A European Commission-funded study of Public Perceptions of Agricultural Biotechnology in Europe (PABE) will be published this month. It finds that the public's reaction to GMOs has been influenced by the misassumption—on the parts of not only regulatory authorities, scientists, and industry, but also non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—that the public needs to be educated, rather than consulted.
The PABE study was commissioned by the 4th Framework Fisheries, Agriculture and Agro-Industrial Research programme as an exercise in “better understanding of the public.” Between June 1998 and June 2000, 14 focus groups comprising about 6 people in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK were presented with a series of questions and statements and their responses and discussion recorded. Those questions and statements were compiled after interviewing the major players—biotech companies, agro-food firms, large food distributors, ministries, regulatory bodies, scientists, farming trade unions, and environmental and consumer NGOs—and surveying literature produced by them and, as such, represented a list of assumptions these groups have about public attitudes to GMOs.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution