Oddly, �genetically modified� has come to mean an organism, usually a crop plant, to which an extra gene or short piece of DNA has been added using molecular techniques,  often called �recombinant DNA techniques.�  Changing organisms, including plants, using recombinant DNA (rDNA) techniques is often called �genetic engineering.� So today the term GMO is used just for molecular modification using recombinant DNA techniques. But genetic engineering is a rather off-putting term.  We don�t have a problem with engineering cars or bridges or computers, but food? Hmmmm�.isn�t that fooling with Mother Nature?  Well��as you just just saw, over a few tens of thousands of years, we�ve done a pretty good job of cajoling mutants from Mother Nature to provide a vast array of plants that produce appealing and nourishing foods for people.  During the 20th century, we learned how to use mutagens -- chemicals and radiation -- to hurry along Mother Nature�s slow pace of making mutations.  So what about the new molecular techniques? Well, here too, we�ve learned some of Mother Nature�s tricks and put them to work to improve crops.  In the following, I call this MOLECULAR CROP ENHANCEMENT.