Genetic engineering has advanced at a animating pace in the relatively short period of time since Mintz and Jaenisch conducted their successful experiment. By the middle of the 1990s, genetically modified foods were being sold in supermarkets, the most famous being the Flavr Savr tomato, which was engineered to have a longer shelf-life. Now, crops are genetically engineered to be able to survive in conditions they wouldn’t normally be able to handle; genetically modified organisms are used to study gene function; and hormones, vaccines and other life-saving drugs are created through the practice.