| Published
on August 23, 2001 |
Public support
for GM foods may be declining, survey shows
Bangkok (August 23, 2001) - While most urban Thais
agree that the benefits of biotechnology in producing
pest-resistant GM foods are greater than the risks, the
vast majority admit that they do not actually understand
what GMOs are, and even among those who do and support
their development, around half admit they will actually
stop consuming foods that contain GMOs.
These results are part of a fascinating nationally representative
study on the state of Thai public opinion on the environment
just completed by NFO Thailand, a market research agency,
in association with Environics, a Canadian public opinion
company which coordinates the study in over 20 countries
worldwide.
According to the survey of 1,000 adults living in urban
areas countrywide, 64 per cent of adults agree that the
benefits of biotechnology to create GM food crops that
do not require chemical pesticides and herbicides outweighed
the risks, while 32 per cent feel that the risks were
not worth it. Despite this majority, the strength of support
for biotechnology in Thailand is ebbing. Last year, the
same study found 72 per cent in support of biotechnology,
with only 17 per cent opposed. Indeed, last year, of the
total of 17 countries surveyed, Thailand ranked joint
third with China in support for biotechnology behind only
Indonesia, and Cuba.
Much of the decline in support seems to have come from
the Bangkok population, perhaps as a result of Greenpeace
Thailand's recent highlighting of the GMO in foods issue.
But, upcountry residents have also come off the fence
and have become more likely to voice opinions against
biotechnology so that those opposed upcountry now amount
to 27 per cent. Also, those over 25 years old are increasingly
opposing biotechnology while younger respondents remain
overwhelmingly in support.
Asked about GMOs specifically, however, 70 per cent of
respondents claim that they do not really know what these
are. Of the remaining 30 per cent, 18 per cent claim to
support biotechnology and 12 per cent oppose it. Clearly
among those who claim to understand the issues, support
for GMOs is much narrower, indicating that it is the vast
majority who do not currently have a clear idea of what
GMOs are who can swing the vote for or against the GMO
debate.
Perhaps surprisingly, while level of education and claimed
training in science have an effect on whether respondents
understand what GMOs are, they have no effect on whether
informed persons will support biotechnology or not. As
many of those trained in science or well educated oppose
GMOs as support them. Meanwhile, informed opponents are
more likely to come from Thailand's most wealthy (top
20 per cent of the population).
Roughly half (51 per cent) of Thailand's adults claim
to have heard the recent news concerning use of GMOs in
certain foodstuffs in Thailand. Typically, those who have
heard of the news were more likely to be male, more educated
and wealthy, middle aged (25-39) and Bangkok residents.
And the 30 per cent who claim to know what GMOs are tend
to be characterized by the same group also.
While a plurality of consumers (43 per cent) are confident
that they have never unwittingly eaten GMO foods, in fact,
further questioning reveals that in fact most unwittingly
have. Asked directly, only one in five consumers (18 per
cent) spontaneously claims to have ever eaten foods containing
GMOs, while 39 per cent say they simply do not know. In
fact, however, when asked whether they or members of their
family had in the previous 3 months eaten any of a list
of 7 foodstuffs tested by Greenpeace and believed to contain
GMOs some 78 per cent claim to have eaten at least one
of these food items.
Is knowing a product contains GMOs likely to influence
consumer's purchasing behavior? According to most consumers
it will. For most of the seven products discussed - Nestle
baby Cerelac, Good Time instant cereal beverage, Knorr
cup soup (instant cream of corn soup), Nissin cup noodles,
and Lay's Stax (potato crisp original flavor) - around
40 per cent of recent consumers intend to stop consuming
these products either immediately or after their current
stocks have run out. A further 20-30 per cent say they
intend to try to reduce the quantity they consume. Only
around 15 per cent intend to carry on consuming as before.
These figures are fairly consistent across products, though
for some (Eg Cerelac baby food), the proportion who intend
to stop consumption immediately is even higher.
But perhaps one of the most interesting findings is that
even those who claim to know what GMOs are and support
their use do not personally intend to continue to consume
GM foods regardless. Indeed, 46 per cent of these informed
supporters say they will stop consuming GM foods, while
a further 19 per cent say that they will cut down on the
amounts of the product they use. In this respect they
are not much different from the informed opponents, of
whom 57 per cent say they will quit eating GM foods once
these are identified.
The fear of a public backlash may be one of the reasons
why manufacturers are lobbying the Government so hard
to postpone the labeling of products containing GMOs.
But it is clear that clear labeling is what the public
themselves actually support. Some 90 per cent of adults
in Thailand either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed
with compulsory labeling of foods containing GMOs. This
support for labeling cuts across all sub-groups regardless
of level of support for GM foods or location of respondent.
Indeed, even 92 per cent of informed supporters of bio-technology
feel that this is a necessary requirement to enable consumers
to make informed decisions. Compulsory labeling is supported
by more respondents than any other controversial environmental
issue respondents were quizzed on, including bans on use
of chemical farm products, replacement of mangroves with
shrimp farms, dam building, support for community forests
and a host of other hot issues.
Whether world opinion is turning against biotechnology
and GMOs will not be known until later in the year when
the results of the survey undertaken in the other 19 plus
countries are released. But in Thailand at least, the
message is clear, while public opinion is generally in
favor of GM food when it means using less chemicals in
production, this majority relies heavily on those who
admit they do not understand the issue, and the more people
come to understand it, the more the likelihood that they
may switch allegiance.
NFO Thailand is an independent market research agency,
the research was undertaken through NFO's own financial
backing and received no support from any interest group.
The full Thai version of the International Environment
Monitor (IEM) report will cover public opinion on biotechnology
as well as a host of other environmental issues including
climate change, industrial responsibility, environmentally
friendly companies and "Thailand's hot topics" and will
be available for purchase in the third quarter of 2001.
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