Allergy: an abnormal immune reaction to naturally occurring protein substances (allergens).  The allerginicity assessment of newly expressed proteins is an important component in the safety evaluation of genetically engineered plants (digestibility, homology, and mammalian tests are all performed as part of allerginicity assessment).  No allergic reactions to GE crops have ever been reported despite extensive biosafety tests in several countries, including the US.

Amino acids: the building blocks of proteins, which are linear chains of amino acids. 

Assisted reproductive technology (ART): infertility treatment used to achieve pregnancy by artificial or partially artificial means. 

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt): a soil bacterium used widely in agriculture - especially in organic farming and GE crops.  Different strains of Bt are toxic to different insects.  Farmers carefully match the target pest species with a Bt toxin protein that is specific for that insect.  Bt crops genetically engineered to contain these specific toxins greatly reduce the application levels of toxic pesticides, and thus help maintain populations of beneficial insects, which are not harmed by the toxin.

Basic research (also called fundamental or pure research): research performed simply to advance knowledge.  It is exploratory and often motivated by the researcher's curiosity and intuition.  Basic research is conducted without any practical end in mind, although results often have practical applications.

Biofuels: solid, liquid, or gaseous fuels derived from biomass.  Two common strategies are used to produce liquid biofuels to meet transportation needs: Sugar or starch crops (like sugar cane or corn, respectively) are used for yeast fermentation to produce ethanol, and oil crops like soybean or algae are chemically processed to make biodiesel.  A third promising strategy produces cellulosic ethanol from plant cell wells (rather than only from sugars and starches) and requires less fossil fuel input.

Biopharming: the use of genetic engineering to insert genes coding for pharmaceuticals into plants that would otherwise not express those genes.  GE plants make the pharmaceuticals (recombinant proteins or their metabolic products) in large quantities.  Sometimes it's even possible for the drug to be taken by eating the plant itself (e.g. vaccination by bananas).

Biopharmaceuticals: drugs produced by biopharming.  Pros include the potential to produce large quantities of cheap vaccines or other important pharmaceutical products like insulin.  Also, drugs made this way may have greater efficacy and fewer side effects than the small organic molecules often used as pharmaceuticals, because their action can be targeted precisely toward the cause of a disease rather than the treatment of symptoms.  Cons include concerns about biopharmed crops contaminating food crops. 

Biomass: material derived from plants, animals, and their by-products.  The carbon used to make biomass is absorbed from the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂) by photosynthetic organisms like plants and algae, using energy from the sun.  (Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas are also derived from biological material; however, this material absorbed CO₂ from the atmosphere many millions of years ago.)

Biotechnology: the collection of industrial processes that involve the use of biological systems - biotech is commonly used to brew beer, produce antibiotics, and improve food crops and livestock through breeding.  For some industries, these processes involve the use of genetically engineered organisms.

Bt corn: corn genetically engineered to contain a pesticide specific to corn boring insect species.  In addition to the direct environmental benefit of reducing pesticide use, planting Bt corn has the indirect health benefit of lowering mycotoxin levels in the harvested grain.

Bt cotton: cotton genetically engineered to contain a pesticide specific to the cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), an agricultural pest that causes five billion US dollars worth of crop damage each year and serious distress to farmers in countries like India.

Carbon footprint: the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product.

Carbon neutral: a balance between the amount of carbon released and the amount sequestered or offset. Neutrality can be achieved by using renewable energy sources that don't produce any CO₂ and by sequestering atmospheric CO₂.

Carbon sequestering: the long-term storage of carbon in soil (by incorporating it into biomass), underground, or the ocean, thus reducing atmospheric levels of CO₂ (the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas).  Fertile soils are rich in sequestered carbon.

Classical plant breeding: hybridization is forced between two distinct plant species (usually, but not always species within the same genus) with the intention of developing improved crop varieties.  Classical plant breeders use a number of techniques including protoplast fusion, embryo rescue, or mutagenesis to generate diversity and produce plants that would not exist in nature.

Clean energy: natural energetic processes that can be harnessed with little pollution, such as anaerobic digestion, geothermal power, wind power, small-scale hydropower, solar energy, biomass power, tidal power, and wave power.

Clean energy biotechnology: uses genetically engineered enzymes to produce fuel from renewable agricultural sources.

Clean energy economy: a system of economic activity that generates jobs, businesses, and investments while expanding clean energy production; increasing energy efficiency; reducing GHG emissions, waste and pollution; and conserving water and other natural resources.

Climate-neutral agriculture: a sustainable farming system achieving net zero GHG emissions.

Cloning: the making of an exact genetic copy - this can mean making copies of a DNA fragment (molecular cloning), of a cell (cell cloning), or of an organism (the most famous example being Dolly the sheep).  Human clones are among us right now: they're identical twins, created naturally.

Coordinated Framework for Biotechnology: the US federal system for evaluating products developed using recombinant DNA technology, based on the health and safety laws that were already in place to address conventional product classes.  The agencies responsible for oversight are the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the EPA, and the FDA.

Digestibility tests: a protein that is degraded by the gastric enzymes before reaching the intestine is very unlikely to cause allergy.  As one of multiple methods of evaluating the potential allergy risks of GE crops, the digestibility of transgenic proteins by simulated human gastric juices is tested routinely.

DNA: The genes of all organisms consist of DNA.  Even though organisms are very different, they all use similar proteins in their metabolic pathways, and they use similar genes to encode these proteins.  Scientifically speaking, it's what protein the DNA makes that matters, not where the DNA comes from.

Environmentalism: a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation.

Gasification: under high temperatures, in the presence of oxygen, biomass can be converted to synthesis gas (syngas), which can be used as a fuel.  Gasification is more efficient than direct combustion of the original biomass, since more energy is extracted.  Carbon neutral: a balance between the amount of carbon released and the amount sequestered or offset.  Neutrality can be achieved by using renewable energy sources that don't produce any CO₂ and by sequestering atmospheric CO₂.

Genes: molecules that carry inheritable instructions for making proteins in the cells of living organisms.  The proteins coded for by genes determine an organism's traits, or characteristics.  Interestingly, some genes serve only to switch other genes on and off, and don't make a protein product at all.

Genetic engineering: a change in an organism's genes made using recombinant DNA technology.  A genetically modified/engineered organism is called a GMO.  (More often than not, GE crops are referred to as GM crops, but this is a bit of a misnomer, since all GE crops are GM, but not all GM crops are GE!)

Genetically engineered crop: a plant or plant product grown and harvested extensively for subsistence or profit that contains traits encoded by one or a few newly expressed proteins.

Genetic marker: a DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that is associated with a particular trait (genetically determined characteristic).

Genetic modification: a change in an organism's genes made through selection, hybrid breeding, mutagenesis, or genetic engineering.

Genetic selection: choosing organisms with desirable genetic characteristics for propagation.  In humans, genetic selection procedures allow couples that are at risk of passing on a genetic disease to have healthy children by implanting only selected embryos.

Genetic testing: allows an individual's vulnerabilities to inherited diseases to be detected.

Genetic use restriction technology (GURT): a collection of genetic engineering applications designed to stop the spread and/or the unauthorized use of a plant variety.  GURT also called ‘terminator technology' - usually works by causing second-generation seeds to be sterile.  GURT has the potential to prevent the unwanted spread of engineered genes into non-GE plant varieties, but is often criticized because farmers choosing to grow these varieties would have to purchase new seed each planting season (just as they would if they chose to grow hybrid seed).

Glyphosate: a broad-spectrum, low-toxicity systemic herbicide used to kill perennial weeds. Since the introduction of crops genetically engineered for glyphosate-resistance (roundup ready), the US has seen a 2.5 million pound decline in pesticide use on corn, soybeans, and cotton. Glyphosate-resistant crops are most helpful as part of integrated pest management strategies. They have fostered the use of more sustainable no-till agricultural practices.

Greenhouse gasses: the gases present in the earth's atmosphere that reduce heat loss into space and therefore contribute to global temperatures through the greenhouse effect.  Since the industrial revolution, human activity has sharply increased the concentration of greenhouse gasses, including CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Homology tests: only certain short stretches of amino acids (the components of proteins) constitute allergenic sites.  As one of multiple methods of evaluating the potential allergy risks of GE crops, the amino acid sequences of transgenic proteins are scrutinized and compared to hundreds of thousands of other amino acid sequences to check for similarities with known allergens.

Hybrid breeding: producing a hybrid animal or plant by breeding two animals or two plants of different species or varieties to rearrange the genetic material between populations or races.  Hybrids are produced because they have desirable characteristics not found or inconsistently present in the parent individuals or populations.  Since second-generation plants may no longer exhibit the characteristics farmers want, breeding companies sometimes use hybrids to protect intellectual property.

Integrated pest management (IPM): a pest control strategy that uses comprehensive information on pest life cycles and interactions with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.

Intellectual property: creations of the mind (musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions; and symbols, names, images, and designs).  Under intellectual property law, the holder of one of these abstract creations has exclusive rights to it - this is why we have trademarks, copyrights, and patents.  In many instances, owners (or their designated licensees) can restrict, or impose fees for, the use of IP.

Kyoto Protocol: an international environmental treaty initiated in the late 1990s with the goal of stabilizing GHG concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with our climate system.  183 parties have ratified the protocol - the US has not.  Kyoto imposes national caps requiring countries to reduce their emissions 5.2% below their 1990 baseline over the 2008 to 2012 period.

Mammalian tests: as one of multiple methods of evaluating the potential allergy risks of GE crops, lab animals are exposed to transgenic proteins and monitored for allergic responses.

Mutagenesis: a process by which the genetic information (DNA) of an organism is changed in a stable manner, either in nature or experimentally using chemicals or radiation.

Mycotoxins: chemicals produced in moldy crops - including aflatoxins - that can be poisonous or carcinogenic to humans (especially children) and livestock.  Mycotoxin contamination threatens food safety in the developing world and causes the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in the US each year.

Natural chemical: a chemical compound or substance produced by a living organism found in nature that usually has a pharmacological or biological activity.  A natural product can be considered as such even if it is prepared by chemical synthesis.

No-till: sowing a crop with minimal soil disturbance. No-till (encompassing direct drilling, narrow point seeding, and disc seeding practices) improves physical, chemical, and biological soil fertility, reduces erodibility, and increases carbon sequestration, leading to more sustainable farm management.

Organic agriculture: a farming system that relies on ecological processes, biodiversity, and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of synthetic inputs.  In the US, current organic certification standards consider GMOs to be intrinsically harmful, even when they're grown using organic farming.

Patents: laws implemented to encourage innovation by allowing investors to recoup costs of research and development.  While there are several types of patents in the US, utility patents are the most pertinent to biotech applications involving living organisms.  Since the 1980s, utility patents have been widely used to protect plant varieties developed using either traditional breeding or genetic engineering.

Pesticide: a chemical substance or biological agent (such as viruses or bacteria) applied against any pest. Insecticides are used to control insect pests (e.g. European Corn Borer), fungicides to control molds (e.g. Aspergillus flavus), herbicides to control weedy pests (e.g. Leafy Spurge), etc. GE crops involve the herbicide glyphosate and insecticides produced by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).

Plant Patent Act of 1930: US intellectual property statute authorizing utility patents for new varieties of asexually reproduced plants.  The US Patent Act of 1952 refined the Plant Patent Act by requiring substantive change and invention.  In 1980, a Supreme Court decision rendered genetically engineered organisms patentable under this statute.  In 2001, sexually reproduced plants also became eligible for utility patents.

Plant utility patents: protect against the unlawful propagation or sale of either genetically engineered or conventionally bred crops for a minimum of 20 years.

Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970: US intellectual property statute authorizing plant variety protection certificates, giving breeders up to 25 years of exclusive control over new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually reproduced or tuber propagated plant varieties.

Precision breeding (marker assisted selection): a technique involving the use of genetic markers to track the inheritance of genes when closely related plants are crossed.  Plants produced using this technique are, by definition, not transgenic; therefore, the compliance costs involved in developing cultivars suited to local conditions in developing countries are minimized.

Proteins: each gene encodes a linear chain of amino acids to form a unique protein that performs a specialized function in the cell.

Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH): a synthesized version of a protein hormone naturally produced in the pituitary glands of cattle.  rBGH was developed to increase milk production in dairy cattle.  Since it is a protein (rather than steroidal) hormone, it is biologically inactive when consumed by humans.  However, its administration to cows negatively impacted their health and welfare.  In the US, the vast majority of milk products are therefore now rBGH-free.

Recombinant DNA technology: a series of procedures used to join (recombine) DNA segments.  This technology makes it possible to take a gene from any species and place it into almost any other species.

Red, green, and white GE: genetic engineering applications can be broken down into three areas: medical (red), agricultural (green), and industrial (white).  Red and white applications have resounding public approval, while green applications remain controversial.

Renewable energy: an energy source replenished by natural processes at a rate comparable or faster than its rate of consumption.  Examples include solar radiation, tides, winds, and hydroelectricity.

Stem cell technology: takes undifferentiated human cells and develops them into most any of the 220 varieties of cells in the human body.  Some researchers have high hopes for stem cell research and its ability to treat diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's.  Along with these hopes, this research engenders fears of human cloning and concerns about the ethics of conducting scientific research on human embryos.

Sustainability: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable agriculture: a farming system that integrates three main goals - environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity.  Stewardship of human resources involves meeting the needs of laborers and rural communities, and supporting consumer health and safety in the present and the future.  Stewardship of land and natural resources involves maintaining a vital resource base for the long term.

Sustainable biotechnology: uses biotechnology applications in industry (e.g. producing fuel, making manufacturing processes cleaner) and agriculture in ways that support a sustainable future.

Synthetic chemical: a chemical compound or substance that is not produced by a living organism, prepared by chemical synthesis.

Systems agronomy: an inter-disciplinary field that focuses on the systematic study of plants used for food, fuel, feed, and fiber, from a holistic perspective.  An agronomic system includes an individual farm, its local ecosystem, and the communities affected by its farming system both locally and globally.

Terminator hoax: a long discredited report that Bt cotton planted in India contains a type of GURT dubbed terminator technology.  In fact, the holders of the patent for the terminator gene never introduced it to the field, in any crop, anywhere in the world.  Terminator technology caused second generation seed sterility, and thus had the potential to prevent the unwanted spread of engineered genes into non-GE plant varieties.  It was criticized and ultimately abandoned because farmers choosing to grow these varieties would have had to purchase new seed each planting season (just as they do when they use hybrid seed).

Transgene: a gene that is taken from the genome of one organism and introduced into the genome of another organism using recombinant DNA technology.

Transgenic variety: a crop genetically identical to its parental variety, except for its transgene(s).

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