The restrictions agreed to at Asilomar were accepted by universities and funding agencies worldwide. “This unique conference marked the beginning of an exceptional era for science and for the public discussion of science policy,” Berg wrote thirty years later. “We gained the public’s trust, for it was the very scientists who were most involved in the work and had every incentive to be left free to pursue their dream that called attention to the risks inherent in the experiments they were doing. Restrictive national legislation was avoided.”
