Well-educated Americans have become less keen on genetic engineering over the past five years, according to a survey carried out by the National Science Board (NSB). This is despite a general increase in acceptance of the topic in the previous decade.

The proportion of US adults with bachelor degrees who responded that the potentially harmful results of genetic engineering either ‘slightly’ or ‘significantly’ outweighed the benefits is rising, from 20% in 1995 and 24% in 1997 to 29% in 1999 (see table).

Table 1 Respondents who argue that the harmful results of genetic engineering ‘slightly’ or ‘strongly’ outweigh benefits
Full size table

The results, published last week in the NSB's Science and Education Indicators 2000, point to a growing suspicion of the biotech industry by some sectors of the public, at a time when the industry, prompted by the full sequencing of the human genome (see page 983 ), is set for greater financial prosperity.

Negative perception of genetic engineering across all US adults has remained sightly less volatile. Adults with less than a college education are still more suspicious of genetic engineering as a whole, while adults who have completed high school or college or who follow progress in medical research have become more suspicious of it since 1995.

But some are sceptical. Dan Eramian, spokesperson for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), says it “runs counter to every national survey I've seen”.

Eramian says the public has little idea of what ‘genetic engineering’ means. The term encompasses cloning, gene therapy and genetically modified (GM) foods, among other transgenic technologies. Those polled may have responded differently if they had been asked about each specific technology, according to the report.

But Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, a group that opposes GM foods, says that the more BIO promotes the applications of genetics to promote its image, the more people appear to become opposed to it.

Rifkin thinks that the falling support of genetic engineering by educated and informed people reflects uncertainty, rather than panic. “People are saying we don't have enough information to show that this is safe,” he says.

Dorothy Nelkin, a professor of sociology at New York University who specializes in science and law, says she is not surprised at the results. People in grass-roots organizations who oppose GM food, she says, tend to be both highly educated and informed of progress in science and medicine.

Nelkin suspects that the public fears industry taking over science more than it fears the science itself. “Commercialization enhances mistrust,” Nelkin says.

http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind00/start.htm