We still Need Better Communication on GMOs (and science)

[progressoid]

A new PEW survey does a deep exploration of public attitudes toward genetically modified organisms (GMOs), organic food, and scientific consensus. While the numbers are better than I thought they would be, perhaps indicating some progress, they still indicate a large disconnect between scientific and public opinion on food matters.

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Interestingly, negative attitudes toward GMOs do not vary by any predictable demographic. Numbers were roughly equal across the political spectrum, and for gender, age, and income.

For the public GMOs are not a partisan issue (which is in stark contrast to other scientific issues, such are global warming, which are dominantly partisan). The same is not true, however, of the main political parties. The Republican Party has been consistently opposed to mandatory GMO labeling, while the Democratic Party has been largely for it.

If GMOs are not a partisan issue for the public, what factors do align with the false belief GMOs are not safe? Not surprisingly, of those who said that they follow the issue of GMOs closely and care about the issue, those who believe GMOs to be worse for health jumped from 39% to 75% and that organic food is better for health from 55% to 81%.

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Distrust of science

One strong predictor of negative attitudes toward GMOs is negative attitudes toward scientists and a misunderstanding of the scientific consensus. Only 35% said they trusted scientists “a lot” to provide full and accurate information on GMOs, while 43% said they trusted scientists “some” and 21% “not too much/not at all”.

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This is disappointing but not surprising. People distrust science for a variety of reasons, but the research shows that if people come to distrust science because of a political view they hold that is at odds with the scientific consensus, their trust in science in general also suffers.

more: https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/we-still-need-better-communication-on-gmos/

[Archae]

1. As long as...

There are hysterics who hate science and the jerks who make lots of money off them, GMO's will continue to be unjustly condemned.