The State : UC Scientist Gets Award

A UC Berkeley biologist whose planned outdoor tests with an altered “frost-fighting” bacteria was blocked by court order has received an award from the National Academy of Sciences. Steven Lindow, 34, an associate professor of plant pathology, who for 10 years has been studying how bacteria cause frost damage in crops, received the $15,000 Award for Initiatives in Research. The award is given annually to recognize work by young scientists that is “likely to lead toward new capabilities for human benefit.” Research by Lindow and his associates came under attack in 1983 when they were about to conduct outdoor tests with a strain of genetically altered “frost-fighting” bacteria. The Foundation for Economic Trends, founded by Washington-based environmentalist and writer Jeremy Rifkin, got a court order halting the tests until the altered microbes could be adequately studied. U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica ordered the tests suspended in April, 1984, until the court decided whether the tests would violate environmental rules. Lindow said the National Institutes of Health approved the tests in June, 1983, and that he has nearly completed an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a permit.