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US public opinion divided over biotechnology?

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 November 2000

Although a majority of US citizens remain supportive, opposition to biotechnology is on the rise.

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Figure 1: Percentages of respondents in this survey who believe that each of four technologies “will improve our way of life in the next 20 years, will have no effect, or will make things worse.”
Figure 2: US attatudes about GM food.
Figure 3: Encouragement and knowledge by education level.
Figure 4: Average level of moral acceptability and average degree of encouragement for each of six applications tested.

References

  1. National Science Board. Science & Engineering Indicators – 2000 (National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, 2000) (NSB-00-1), p 8–20. Contains unpublished data from J.D. Miller, C., Midden, E., Einseidel, & L. Kimmel.

  2. http://ificinfo.health.org/foodbiotech/survey.htm

  3. National Science Board. Science & Engineering Indicators – 2000 (National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, 2000) (NSB-00-1)

  4. US Office of Technology Assessment. New developments in biotechnology: public perceptions of biotechnology. NTIS order #PB87-207544 (1987) or www.ota.nap.edu/pubs.html.

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  6. Gaskell, G., Bauer, M.W., Durant, J., & Allum, N.C. Science 285, 384–387 (1999).

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  7. Priest, S. A Grain of truth: The media, the public, and biotechnology. (Rowman & Littlefield, in press).

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by the US National Science Foundation, Ethics and Values Studies program (directed by Rachelle D. Hollander), and by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University (Robert A. Kennedy). Questionnaire design was facilitated by the cooperation of the International Research Group on Biotechnology and the Public, coordinated by George Gaskell at the London School of Economics, and in particular with the generous assistance of Edna Einsiedel at the University of Calgary. Texas A&M graduate students Godfrey Li (sociology) and Li Jin (journalism) acted as research assistants for the analysis of these data.

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  1. associate professor in the Department of Journalism, Texas A&M University, College Station , 77843-4111, TX

    Susanna Hornig Priest

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  1. Susanna Hornig Priest
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Priest, S. US public opinion divided over biotechnology?. Nat Biotechnol 18, 939–942 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79412

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