Biotechnology products and European consumers

More than 100 interviews conducted during 1997 with European food manufacturers and retailers, trade associations, government departments, consumer groups, environmental organizations and some individual academic scientists revealed how differences in the perceived attitudes of consumers gave rise to varying approaches by suppliers to the possible introduction of transgenic foods. European consumers generally are not against the pharmaceutical products of biotechnology but are much less willing to accept food and food ingredients, especially when derived from genetically modified plants. Objections are mainly based on fears for the health and safety of the consumer, worries about the possibility of deleterious effects on the environment, and a range of moral and ethical concerns often deriving from a distaste, however expressed, at the concept of interfering with nature. Consumer understanding of the science underlying biotechnology is patchy; in no country does more than a small proportion of the population claim a good grasp. Partly no doubt as a consequence of these attitudes, the introduction of genetically modified foods into Europe has occurred slowly and, during the period of this study, perhaps only in the Netherlands and the UK.