Agricultural genetics goes to court

A coalition of environmental groups headed by activist Jeremy Rifkin has filed lawsuits to halt experiments that would release genetically engineered organisms into the environment. One suit, filed against the National Institutes of Health on 14 September 1983, would block tests by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. A second suit, filed 16 September 1983 against Cetus Madison and BioTechnica, seeks to halt field tests that had been approved by NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. At issue are NIH's role in evaluating the risks of genetic experimentation, and the public's right of access to proprietary information.