Extreme opponents of genetically modified foods know the least but think they know the most

Words, images and gender

“…This observation matches with a recent paper in Nature Human Behavior [9] about GMO perception, which concludes that the less people know about GMOs and the science behind it, the stronger their opposition to GMOs. The higher the level of education, the higher the appreciation of synthetic biology, biotechnology or genetic engineering.…”

“…The higher the level of education, the higher the appreciation of synthetic biology, biotechnology or genetic engineering. This observation matches with a recent paper in Nature Human Behavior [9] about GMO perception, which concludes that the less people know about GMOs and the science behind it, the stronger their opposition to GMOs. Moreover, people with a higher degree of education generally show less bias in terms of gender perception of professionals or scientists.…”

Perceptions of emerging biotechnologies

“…test based) knowledge on support for biotechnology have found subjective knowledge to be more related to acceptance than objective knowledge [30]. Similarly, extreme opposition to GM foods has been associated with low objective knowledge about science and genetics and the gap between subjective and objective knowledge increases as the extremity of opposition increases [3]. Our study included both a measure of subjective knowledge about each biotechnology product and objective ability to think scientifically.…”

“…altruism toward other species or the environment in general) being associated with the belief that biotechnology is not beneficial (p=0.02) (table 1). It has been demonstrated that extreme opposition to GM foods is associated with low objective knowledge about science and genetics [3]. While we found perceived riskiness and the need to regulate biotechnology were most strongly associated with the ability to think scientifically (p=0.002 and 0.001, respectively; table 1), we found that those with a greater ability to think scientifically were more likely to believe biotechnology was risky and needed to be regulated ( figure 1(A)).…”

“…In 2015, 88% of American Association for the Advancement of Science members surveyed responded that genetically modified (GM) foods were safe to eat, while only 37% of the general public agreed [1]. While such findings support the idea that scientific knowledge could lessen public opposition to biotechnology, research in this area has shown mixed results [2][3][4]. Therefore, while technological advances have improved the ease and precision with which organisms can be engineered, the scientific community continues to grapple with how biotechnology should be applied, discussed, and regulated [5,6].…”