When we’re gathering evidence to develop new policies, we understand how important the public’s views are in contributing to this. I was therefore interested to read the latest annual report of British Social Attitudes, which was published by the National Centre for Social Research yesterday.
This year the Agency funded some questions in the survey to find out more about people’s views on food technologies, including GM, and this will form part of a package of social science work in this area.
The key thing the survey found was that levels of concern about new food technologies vary across the country and are strongly linked to the level of knowledge about new products and technologies. In relation to GM, while opposition has fallen since 1999, public approval has not risen. Rather, the public are less able to agree or disagree about the merits or otherwise of GM foods.
Over the coming year the Agency will be opening up a debate on GM, which will help provide people with information they need to develop their own views.
If you’re interested in finding out more, we’ll be publishing a full report of the food technology questions in the coming months.