On Apr. 29, 1987, University of California, Berkeley plant pathologist Steven Lindow field-tested genetically altered Pseudomonas syringae (known as ‘ice minus’ bacteria) as a frost-preventive on potatoes in the Tulelake, California area.

Also in 1987, Advanced Genetic Sciences, a pioneering agricultural biotechnology company headquartered in Oakland, California, sprayed Frostban on an acre of strawberry plants in Brentwood, CA, marking the first release of genetically altered bacteria in the U.S. Advanced Genetic Sciences developed Frostban as a bacterial-based treatment capable of reducing frost damage to fruit and nut crops.

On the morning of the trial, the researchers found most of the strawberry plants uprooted, the work of a an activist group. in May, vandals uprooted about 3,000 potato plants that were part of a Frostban field trial.

The controversy surrounding these trials subsequently drove the development of federal regulatory policy.