GMO stands for genetically modified organism... meaning that the genetic material of an organism is manipulated in a lab setting to alter the genetic material for a specific purpose.

Hybrids are the result of taking two different species or varieties and interbreeding them to produce offspring that hopefully have improved characteristics over either of the parents. While labor intensive for crop plants, there is no addition or deletion of specific genes done to either parent stock to produce the new offspring.

Science fiction has dealt with the idea for quite some time... the term "pharming" was created to describe adding genes to produce drugs into critters like goats... milk the goat & then extract the insulin or whatever drup you wanted to produce.

what GMO means today is that a megacorp like Monsanto ( not the only one BTW) can add genetic material to a food crop like corn that carries the trait for resistence to a pesticide that would otherwise cause it to shrivel up and die if it ever came in contact with. Why? So they can market that pesticide to farmers at a hefty price with the promise that it will kill "competing weeds"... not to mention the cost of the "improved" seed.

The same technology that has allowed science to splice genes to determine what they do, or to come up with the entire genome of a species is also used to alter food crops. The difference with hybrids is that they do not reproduce "true" to the hybrid type... the genes get reshuffled or else are sterile. GMO's have demonstrated that once the new genetic material is introduced, it can & will stay around in the gene pool.

Harris Seed developed a popular hybrid tomato called Moreton. When they moved their operations, they misplaced the seeds for the parent tomatoes. it wasn't until both parent tomatoes were found that hybrid once again became available. Only Harris Seed can produce Moreton beefsteak tomatoes.

On the other hand, GMO corn created by Monsanto is fertile and can cross pollinate any other corn variety that comes in contact with the wind borne pollen. Which is why they sue any farmer that saves seed that was pollinated by their patented variety.

The techniques developed to manipulate genetic material can do a lot more than hybridization - which is no more than one on one fertilization. And a lot of crosses before you find a hybrid worth keeping.

The prime goal of agribusiness is to produce a commodity that makes them lots of money. Does it taste good? Is it worth eating? These are far less important factors. Look at the tobacco industry & then tell me that the health & safety of our food supply is all that important when compared to what really matters to bean counters... $$$. What good is cheap bread, if more and more people can't eat without getting sick?