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GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS The term Genetically Modified Foods or GMOs (genetic modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. All living organisms have genes written in their DNA. They are chemical instructions for building and maintaining life. By modifying the genes, scientists can alter the characteristics of an organism. Scientists and farmers have been selectively breeding plants since the late 19th century through a process called hybridization. Today, plants can be bred by changing their genetic makeup often with the insertion of just one gene. Plants are modified in laboratories to enhance desire traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or to improve their nutritional content. Conventional plant breeding methods (hybridization) are time consuming and not very accurate. Genetic engineering can create plants with the exact desired trait very quickly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate the gene responsible for draught tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically modified plant will gain draught tolerance.