As someone who lives in a green and crunchy town but has also taken a good amount of biology, I'm often stuck in an unforgiving place in terms of GMOs. I think they're fine, and the science behind them is not only solid but extremely useful, but a lot of people here think they're the devil's spawn. Europe has been proactive about banning foods made from GMOs and has done so for several years (a policy I feel is a fear monger rather than a protective service, but I digress), but the Ministry of Health in Austria has agreed to allow access to Open BioLab, a one-year-old lab space dedicated to independent tinkering.
In Austria, people need permits to do genetic experimentation outside of a professional setting, but even universities don't allow biohacking, so Open BioLab provides a space for people interested in biotechnology to do more creative work. The lab features a homemade bioreactor made of spare computer parts for growing GM bacteria, and the founders (who are biology students in the city of Graz) hope to produce bacteria that can make Taq polymerase, a crucial but very expensive ingredient for amplifying DNA.
Of course, the USA isn't as afraid of GMOs (yet…) and has been playing with them in the lab to do many things, such as producing indigo for dyeing jeans and making them smell pretty as an indicator that they've finished growing. Because who wouldn't want a banana scented bacterium?
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