Survey: French Shun GM Foods Regardless

AgBiotech Reporter Feb00

A new survey of 1,000 French adults showed overwhelming opposition to foods made with ingredients derived from genetically modified crops. The survey, released Wednesday by two agricultural cooperatives which commissioned it, showed 75 percent of the participants would not eat foods made from modified crops even if an independent and qualified food safety agency were to find they are safe. It showed 19 percent would eat them while 6 percent had no opinion. The survey was conducted in mid-December and the firm which conducted the survey said the individuals polled represented a cross-section of French adults based on age, sex, profession of the main household earner, and region.

Some of its questions had been asked in a similar survey last year, and one showed little change in perceptions about the main beneficiaries from GM crops. It showed 77 percent of the respondents believed multinational biotechnology companies would benefit the most, compared with 78 percent in the year-earlier survey. Eight percent believed farmers who plant GM crops would benefit the most, unchanged from the previous year, and 6 percent believed the main beneficiaries would be the environment and consumers, compared with 5 percent the previous year. The rest had no opinion.