The 1970s law holding back modern biotechnology

This piece was featured in Issue 25 of Works in Progress. Subscribe today to get Issue 26, and an issue every two months after, delivered straight to your home or workplace.In 1983, a biochemical company called AGS filed an application to release genetically modified organisms into the environment. AGS had deleted a single gene from a common leaf-dwelling microbe that encoded a protein around which ice crystals nucleate. By removing it and spraying the modified microbes onto plants, AGS hoped to...