Strategic Approaches to Informing Public about Biotech

To offset poor public perception of biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean countries, a strategic plan for public communications is required. This is particularly important where the benefits of biotechnology products are not clearly evident to consumers. This observation is forwarded by Patricia Traynor of New Agritech Strategies in Virginia, USA and colleagues from the University of Chile in a paper published in the Electronic Journal of Biotechnology.

In “Strategic approaches to informing the public about biotechnology in Latin America”, the authors enumerate specific objectives for this initiative: (1) make evident to decision makers that modern biotechnology can be an effective tool for increasing agricultural productivity, and thereby economic growth, without imposing unacceptable risks to the environment or to human and animal health; (2) enable members of the public to make informed decisions about appropriate uses of biotechnology by providing accurate information about benefits, risks and impacts; or (3) incorporate modern biotechnology into science curricula for secondary schools, university and college students, and agriculture extension officers.
The authors conclude that governments, industry, universities and media must play an important role in improving public perception about biotechnology in the Region.

Read the full paper in http://www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol10/issue2/abstract/12/index.html.