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Acceptance of GM food—an experiment in six countries

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 507–508 (2007)Cite this article

To the editor:

Genetically modified (GM) foods have generated intensely negative consumer attitudes in many countries, particularly in Europe1,2. Several expert reviews indicate that safety concerns regarding GM foods appear largely unfounded3,4, but expert opinions have been insufficient to greatly change public sentiment1,5. Even so, antipathy toward the concept of genetic modification will not necessarily translate into consumer resistance to such foods once introduced into the market.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Tim Breitbarth, Amy Coleman, Jean-Baptiste Faucher, Karen Knightbridge, Charlotte McLeod, Miranda Mirosa, Romain Mirosa, Barbara Neve and Anna Wellingham for help in these experiments. We also thank the anonymous reviewer who pointed out the support for our findings in the latest Eurobarometer report. This work was supported by a grant from the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust of New Zealand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Otago Marketing Commerce, Building Clyde Street, Dunedin, 9001, New Zealand

    John G Knight, Damien W Mather, David K Holdsworth & David F Ermen

Authors
  1. John G Knight
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  2. Damien W Mather
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  3. David K Holdsworth
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  4. David F Ermen
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Contributions

J.G.K., D.W.M. and D.K.H. contributed equally to this work. J.G.K. oversaw the research program and obtained funding. D.W.M. designed the experiments and conducted the statistical analyses. J.G.K. and D.K.H. wrote the paper. D.F.E. conducted the experiments in New Zealand and Sweden. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Knight, J., Mather, D., Holdsworth, D. et al. Acceptance of GM food—an experiment in six countries. Nat Biotechnol 25, 507–508 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0507-507

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