Nothing could have led Francisco Juan Martínez Mojica to foresee, or Francis MojicaAs is popularly known (Elche, 1963), the hours and hours he spent in the Santa Pola salt flats inspecting microorganisms that gave the water its peculiar pink color would eventually lead him to a discovery that would revolutionize biology.

In 1975, following a conference on recombinant DNA in Asilomar, California, a moratorium—self-imposed and widely accepted by experts—came into effect to allow time to assess the risks of the new technology, which for the first time allowed the mixing of genetic material from different species, thus creating modified organisms. The potential applications were fabulous, as was the possibility of generating unimaginable disasters. It was necessary to carefully consider the consequences of using the knowledge that had been acquired and to agree on minimum regulations that everyone could follow.