Public views on GMOs: deconstructing the myths

There is no doubt that genetically modified organisms have a notoriously bad reputation in Europe. The anti-GMO lobby accuses proponents of this technology of pushing the introduction of GMOs into agriculture without adequately considering health and environmental risks. The proGMO camp charges its opponents with blowing potential risks out of proportion in order to manipulate public opinion against this new technology. During this mutual finger pointing, both sides have taken to blaming the public for a lack of understanding. Indeed, one often hears claims that: ‘The media is to blame for the “hysterical” coverage of the issue’, or: ‘The problem is that the public does not understand the science behind biotechnology’, or: ‘Public acceptability will improve as soon as consumers see direct benefits’. A typical demonstration of these arguments was made recently in this journal by Robert Marchant (Marchant, 2001). But this is not an isolated example; in the course of my research on the sociology of risk, I am constantly confronted with such perceptions about the public. However, these views—although prevalent among stakeholders in the GMO debate—are not supported by many years of social science research. I choose to call them ‘myths’ to indicate the fact that they appear so ‘evident’ that no further substantiation seems to be needed. These myths are not restricted to the ‘pro’ or ‘anti’ GMO camps. Both sides, with minor exceptions, tend to share the same misconceived view about public understanding. Both believe that ignorance is a key problem, and develop strategies to ‘educate the public’—even if the content of that ‘education’ is different. Both sides think that direct benefits to the consumer are a central determinant of public acceptance; thus the ‘pros’ seek to communicate the benefits, whilst the ‘antis’ try to demonstrate that these benefits will not be realised or that they will benefit commercial corporations rather than ordinary citizens. Both sides complain—at different times—that they cannot get their views expressed in the media. Here, I will describe our results from the Public Acceptance of Agricultural Biotechnologies (PABE) project (CSEC, 2001) to demonstrate that these ‘myths’ are unsubstantiated. I claim that the very preponderance of these views of the public is a central feature of the GMO controversy, and suggest that the problem of ‘public acceptability’ of GMOs—as it is