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AUS – LATEST GM SURVEY RESULTS
5 October, 2005. Source: Media Release Biotechnology Australia
Attitudes towards biotechnology are now too complex for simple for and against decisions by Australian public.
Research shows that it is no longer sufficient to ask simplified for or against questions relating to biotechnology, as the way in which the Australian community rate biotechnology applications as diverse as genetically modified foods or stem cells has become more complex.
In the fourth of a series of biennial tracking surveys, conducted since 1999 for the Australian Government agency Biotechnology Australia, results show there has been a trend towards increasingly complex analysis of applications of biotechnology by the public.
According to Mr Craig Cormick, the Manager of Public Awareness for Biotechnology Australia, it is no longer relevant to seek simplified black and white answers so as to gauge attitudes as they are clearly more in depth than this, and will change depending on different scenarios.
He said, “When asked if people are for or against applications such as GM foods and crops, we are finding people want more information, and that their attitude can change depending on how that information impacts upon their values.”
“In answer to the question “will people eat GM food”, the responses vary depending on the type of food it is, and who has produced it and what technology is involved.”
Issues that influence attitudes include:
- Is the process of development harmful to humans, animals or the environment?
- Is the process controlled or regulated?
- Does the outcome benefit humanity or can it save or improve human life?
- Is the outcome simply increased corporate profit or scientific career advancement?
- What are the long-term outcomes likely to be?
- What potential exists for unforeseen outcomes to occur?
The study, conducted by the Sydney firm Eureka Strategic Research, involved a sample size of 1067 and 13 focus groups, asking questions relating to GM foods and crops, health and medical applications, stem cell uses and cloning of humans, animals and plants.
“The key trends in attitudes over the four studies is that support for GM food has remained lower than for many applications, with mixing human and animal genes having the lowest approval, but support for health and medical applications of gene technology has been consistently high,” Mr Cormick said.
Other key findings from the study include:
- When compared to other current issues, such as pollution of the environment and greenhouse effect, GM foods and cloning are rated as a lesser concern by the largest proportion of people (pollution 34.8%, greenhouse effect 26%, GM foods 11.0%, cloning 11.6%);
- While the majority of people have heard of the use of stem cells (93%) and support their use in research to treat diseases (79.8%), very few were aware of the use of gene technology in producing medicines (37.7%);
- A majority of people believe it should be illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of their genetic make-up(80%);
- A majority also believe that embryonic stem cells left over from IVF treatments should be made available for research purposes (73%);
- Slightly above half of respondents felt that Australian farmers need access to gene technology to stay internationally competitive (56%) while a similar proportion agreed that Australian farms and foods need to be free of genetically modified organisms to stay internationally competitive (51%); and
- When prompted, the greatest proportion of respondents was confident in information provided by the CSIRO (87.7%), followed by universities (84.1%) and scientists (77.9%). Sources which the fewest people had confidence in included religious organisations (15.2%) and the media (21.6%).
The full report Public Awareness Research 2005 Overview, can be obtained from www.biotechnology.gov.au/reports
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