The State - News from July 21, 1986

Despite protests from residents, the town of Tulelake in northeastern Siskiyou County will be the site of the nation’s first open-air test of a genetically altered bacteria, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, announced. The test, which involves spraying a small patch of potato plants with frost-inhibiting bacteria, will begin in early August in a field about four miles south of the Oregon border. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May granted a permit for the experiment, which is to continue for three years, after determining that it would pose a minimal risk. However, a spokesman for the Action League for Ecologically Responsible Technology said: “The residents of this community feel that they are being used as guinea pigs for the rest of the world.” Two lawsuits regarding the test, insurance liability, and the federal government’s biotechnology regulations are pending in federal court.