In 1983, the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee unanimously approved Lindow test. Stephen Lindow, a Berkeley scientist, planned to modify the genes of certain bacteria that are normally found on potato plants so that they would make the plants resistant to the formation of frost, thereby improving crop yields.

In September 1982, Lindow and Dr. Nickolas Panopoulos submitted a request to the NIH for approval of a deliberate release, a field test of the genetically modified (GMO). Approval pursuant to the revised NIH guidelines was required because the University of California was an institution that received funding from the NIH.

In 1984, Federal District Judge John J. Sirica ordered a delay in the first proposed outdoor experiment using genetically engineered organisms. He ordered the National Institutes of Health not to authorize any more experiments that would release such organisms into the environment until a full hearing.