Sgt. Nick Yemana served in the U.S. army during World War II. He was in the 442nd infantry division "Nisei", which consisted almost entirely of Japanese-American soldiers. (The word "Nisei" refers to American-born children of Japanese immigrants and Nisei itself is Japanese for Second.)
Jack Soo was interned in a camp for Japanese-Americans in Utah during WWII. He got out by enlisting in the US Army, and was assigned to the famous Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT)--the most decorated unit in the US Army--and fought in Italy.
Many seasons later, specifically, Season 6, Episode 10, in the episode entitled The DNA Story (1979) also dealt with the topic of micro-organisms released "into the wild".
Roots (1977) was a mini-series based on a novel written by Alex Haley which in turn was based on his family history. The original broadcast took place on January 23, 1977, nearly two months before the airing of this episode. What made the mini-series, ground-breaking television was it dramatized the full-spectrum of the black experience, which was rarely done before that time.