Asilomar

The famous meeting often known as Asilomar, officially the International Congress on Recombinant DNA Molecules, took place at the Asilomar Conference Center, California, in 1975. Over 100 leading scientists, mostly biologists, together with a handful of lawyers and physicians (along with members of the press), came together to propose guidelines for self-regulation of recom-binant DNA technology (also known as genetic modification or GM). The legacy of this meeting is substantial not only because it was a historic time in which scientists voluntarily addressed the hazards of their work, in this case biohazards, but also because they arguably avoided the imposition of stricter regulations through doing so.

Similarly, while Asilomar is heralded as stimulating debate on GM hazards, it is also referred to as containing debate within ...