Seventy-one percent of Finns believe biotechnology will improve standards of living within 20 years, according to a survey of the Finnish public's opinions on science. Commissioned by Finnish Bioindustries (Helsinki, Finland), an association representing pharmaceutical and other companies, the survey asked the public whether biotechnology and other areas of science are useful or risky. When presented with the undefined term "genetechnology", 58% of Finns considered it useful for pharmaceutical and vaccine development, particularly in gene testing to identify inherited diseases, but almost a third thought it would worsen quality of life over the next 20 years. Seen even less favorably was agricultural biotechnology: Around half the population sees genetically modified foodstuffs as risky, and 93% would like genetically modified food products to carry labels identifying the technology used during production.

Table 1 Finnish consumer opinions of biotechnology applications.
Full size table