Staff writer
In the 1980s, Jozef Schell and Marc Van Montagu developed the first method to produce genetically altered, or transgenic, plants. However, the Belgian scientists say the technique, now used to improve agricultural produce, was not their invention but merely a discovery of what already exists in nature.
Schell and Van Montagu will receive this year's Japan Prize at Tokyo's National Theater today for their contribution to the field of biotechnology in agricultural science.