The CFIA has a definition of genetic engineering. It uses the term “genetic modification” much more widely than the public and is generally understood. Internationally, the term “genetic modification” is used the same way that the CFIA defines genetic engineering. We thus use the terms interchangeably.
This would be the intervention at the molecular level that is not just about transgenics but about moving genetic material around at that molecular level: the direct intervention, which is something that is new to farming—it's something that happens in the laboratory. The entire history, the diversity of our food supply, comes from farmers working with the restrictions of reproductive capacities of organisms. Now we can go beyond that.