Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe

A strong movement of opposition to GMOs developed in the late 1990s in many countries, especially in Europe, although these technologies were presented from the outset as highly promising and their advantages were often highlighted. How can this rejection be explained? The aim of this paper is to an...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Bonny,Sylvie
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso 2003
Acceso en línea:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582003000100008
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:scielo:S0717-34582003000100008
record_format dspace
spelling oai:scielo:S0717-345820030001000082003-08-18Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and EuropeBonny,Sylvie A strong movement of opposition to GMOs developed in the late 1990s in many countries, especially in Europe, although these technologies were presented from the outset as highly promising and their advantages were often highlighted. How can this rejection be explained? The aim of this paper is to answer that question through the case of France, which is fairly representative in this respect of various European countries, even if the opposition movement is here particularly strong. One examines various factors, actors and processes that have led to such strong opposition to GMOs that at this stage their development in Europe has almost totally been halted. In the first part of the article we recall the results of several recent surveys, showing the level of acceptance or refusal of genetic engineering in several countries. We then examine important factors of rejection: the focus on potential risks of GMOs and the extensive publicity given to them, coupled with the inadequacy of answers to these diverse criticisms, and a drawing up of an unfavorable risk-benefit balance. Lastly, we point out that various fears and objections to the evolution of agriculture and to the functioning of society (i.e. limited trust in institutions and firms) appear to be crystallized around GMOs.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoElectronic Journal of Biotechnology v.6 n.1 20032003-04-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582003000100008en
institution Scielo Chile
collection Scielo Chile
language English
description A strong movement of opposition to GMOs developed in the late 1990s in many countries, especially in Europe, although these technologies were presented from the outset as highly promising and their advantages were often highlighted. How can this rejection be explained? The aim of this paper is to answer that question through the case of France, which is fairly representative in this respect of various European countries, even if the opposition movement is here particularly strong. One examines various factors, actors and processes that have led to such strong opposition to GMOs that at this stage their development in Europe has almost totally been halted. In the first part of the article we recall the results of several recent surveys, showing the level of acceptance or refusal of genetic engineering in several countries. We then examine important factors of rejection: the focus on potential risks of GMOs and the extensive publicity given to them, coupled with the inadequacy of answers to these diverse criticisms, and a drawing up of an unfavorable risk-benefit balance. Lastly, we point out that various fears and objections to the evolution of agriculture and to the functioning of society (i.e. limited trust in institutions and firms) appear to be crystallized around GMOs.
author Bonny,Sylvie
spellingShingle Bonny,Sylvie
Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
author_facet Bonny,Sylvie
author_sort Bonny,Sylvie
title Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
title_short Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
title_full Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
title_fullStr Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
title_full_unstemmed Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs?: Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
title_sort why are most europeans opposed to gmos?: factors explaining rejection in france and europe
publisher Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
publishDate 2003
url http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582003000100008
work_keys_str_mv AT bonnysylvie whyaremosteuropeansopposedtogmosfactorsexplainingrejectioninfranceandeurope
_version_ 1718441710862729216