Modifying bacteria? What could possibly go wrong?

In the early 1990s a European genetic engineering company was
preparing to field test and then commercialize on a major scale a
genetically engineered soil bacteria called Klebsiella planticola. The
bacteria had been tested—as it turns out in a careless and very
unscientific mannner—by scientists working for the biotech industry and
was believed to be safe for the environment. Fortunately a team of
independent scientists, headed by Dr. Elaine Ingham of Oregon State
University, decided to run their own tests on the gene-altered Klebsiella
planticola. What they discovered was not only startling, but terrifying—
the biotech industry had created a biological monster—a genetically
engineered microorganism that would kill all terrestrial plants