Biotech Updates

Public Opinion About Agric Biotech - Learn from the Italians

January 15, 2010

With public opinion in Italy being much more favorable towards biotechnology than the rest of the continent, the European Union can learn a bit more from them in influencing public opinion about the technology. So says a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service on How to Influence EU Public Opinion about Agricultural Biotechnology.

The report noted that Italians showed a dramatic increase in support for biotech food. Italian support for biotechnology is relatively high due to the variety of institutions within the country that promote the technology. "Scientific and religious groups - two common sources of guidance for the Italian public - both confirm the safety and humanitarian potential of biotechnology" says the report.  Thus, it might be easier to target "less entrenched aspects of public opinion such as the theoretical usefulness and moral acceptability of biotechnology."

The report can be uploaded from http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/How%20to%20Influence%20EU%20Public%20Opinion%20about%20Agricultural%20Biotechnology_Rome_Italy_1-11-2010.pdf