Strawberry Fields Forever

At the end of last week, scientists in Brentwood, Calif., near San Francisco, sprayed genetically altered bacteria on a small patch of strawberries, thereby initiating the first test of a man-made organism in the open air. These new bacteria are designed to inhibit the formation of ice crystals on plants in cold weather, which means that if they work in the field as they do in the laboratory, crop yields will increase substantially, and there will be more food available in the world.

But the test had been delayed several years by the opposition of environmentalists, who feared an ecological catastrophe if dangerous microorganisms got loose. But no amount of reason, logic, facts or pleading would persuade them that the bacteria are not dangerous and that they will help people rather than harm them. The opponents tried to the very end to stop the experiment in court, and when that failed some of them ripped up 2,000 of the 2,400 plants that were to be sprayed. The plants were replanted in time to be sprayed.

Genetic engineering promises extraordinary benefits to people in the developed as well as in the undeveloped world. It has been studied, tested and analyzed to a degree all but unknown before. When gene-splicing techniques were developed in the 1970s, scientists were concerned that this technology could create a lethal and unstoppable new organism that would devastate the world. They were properly cautious about using the new techniques that they had developed. But years of study persuaded them, and us, that genetic engineering is safe.

Now the results of those experiments are finally being tested, and it’s about time. Advanced Genetic Sciences Inc. of Oakland, the makers of the antifrost product, Frostban, stuck with it through years of battles in administrative agencies and in the courts. The world awaits this product and many more to come.

There are two kinds of science stories: Look what they are doing for us, and look what they are doing to us. Without doubt this one is look what they are doing for us.