This new technology is easier, more exact and faster than traditional methods used to change the characteristics of plants or animals. In plants, these methods are used in placed of time consuming cross breeding. In animals, they are being used to develop lower-fat meats, increase milk production, and create vaccines. These foods were first made available to consumers in the mid-1990's. A Hungarian engineer defined biotechnology in 1919.
Biotechnology uses living organisms to create new products.
While recently biotechnology has come to mean the same as genetic modification or genetic engineering, it is really much more than that. It includes more traditional methods of selective breeding and hybridization as well as newer techniques such as molecular biology, animal and plant cell culture, monoclonal antibody technology, and cell fusion. Fifty per cent of the 1999 American soybean crop carries a gene that makes it resistant to chemicals used to control weeds. Twenty-five per cent of American corn planted in 1999 contains a gene that produces a caterpillar toxin. These farmers can use fewer pesticides.