When a gene from one organism is inserted to a recipient plant’s DNA through molecular techniques, the plant that acquires the new gene is now called a genetically modified (GM) plant. As gene insertion is not limited to plants, the collective term becomes genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

The selected individual gene being transferred is called the transgene, which is why a GM plant is also called transgenic. Food grown from the GM plant is called GM food.

Strictly speaking, the term “GM food” is misleading since conventional techniques of microbial, crop and animal improvement also result in genetic modification. The Society of Toxicology recommends “biotechnology-derived food” as a more accurate term than “GM food”.

The World Health Organization defines GMO as an organism in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. GMOs, then, are the resulting organisms the genetic material of which are improved through modern biotechnology.

An example of a GMO that we are probably most familiar with is Bt corn, which is genetically modified to contain a built-in insecticidal protein that provides the corn with season-long protection from corn borers.