Genetic modification

1. What is genetic modification?

Genetic modification (or ’ GM’) is the modification of genetic make-up so that the modification is passed on to the organism’ s descendants. Strictly, it is a general term that covers many processes – some of these are new, some have been occurring since life began, and some have been strategically used for 10,000 years, since agriculture began at the end of the last ice age. However, the term has more recently come to be used for the process of ’ genetic engineering’, where newly developed processes of molecular biotechnology are employed to insert relatively few genes into an organism’ s genome. Other terms that have been used to describe this technology include ’ recombinant DNA technology’ and ’ genetic manipulation’, as well as more value-laden terms such as ’ genetic enhancement’ and ’ genetic improvement’. In this entry, GM using the new technologies is !distinguished from GM using traditional techniques by referring to the former as ’ new GM’.