A growing majority of Americans support the benefits of food biotechnology as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) labeling policy, as shown by a survey of U.S. consumers commissioned by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) in April 2003.
Biotechnology is becoming an integral part of U.S. agriculture, with biotechnology seed usage expected to reach all-time highs this year. Since 1997, IFIC has provided the longest, continuous series of publicly available surveys to determine how consumers feel about food biotechnology.
“Attitudinal research by IFIC and other organizations over the past decade shows that agricultural biotechnology is not likely to become an issue of concern for most American consumers. When given adequate context, U.S. consumers find biotechnology acceptable and look forward to its benefits,” according to David B. Schmidt, Senior Vice President, Food Safety & Global Relations for IFIC.
IFIC’s eighth consumer survey on food biotechnology found that most Americans (62 percent) believe that biotechnology will benefit them or their families in the next five years. Consumers anticipate benefits, including improved quality, taste, and variety of foods (43 percent); improved health and nutrition (40 percent); reduced chemical and pesticide use on plants (19 percent); reduced cost of food (10 percent); and improved crops and crop yields (9 percent).
Support for these benefits is also seen in the total number of Americans (69 percent) who would be likely to purchase a variety of produce—such as tomatoes or potatoes—that has been “modified through biotechnology to be protected from insect damage and require fewer pesticide applications.” In addition, 56 percent of consumers are likely to purchase the same produce if it has been modified through biotechnology to “taste better or fresher.”
Pesticide use is decreasing, according to data released in February 2003 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Resource Management Survey. The survey has been recording the herbicide use and tillage practices of farmers since 1996, when biotech crops first became available to growers. These numbers show that since the introduction of biotech soybeans, farmers have been able to reduce the amounts of herbicides that they apply to their crops—which not only reduces the total amount of pesticides used but also the frequency of cultivation needed for weed control, as well as the cost per acre required for the farmer to produce the crop.
The IFIC survey also found in an open-ended question that 77 percent of consumers could not think of any information “not currently included on food labels” that they would like to see added. Of those who would like additional information, most identified nutrition information (9 percent) and ingredients (4 percent) as their top choices, whereas only 2 percent of consumers named anything related to “genetically engineered” as an item that they would like to see added to a food label.
Continuing an upward trend from last year, 70 percent of consumers surveyed either support or do not oppose the FDA policy on the labeling of foods produced through biotechnology; with a 2.6 to 1 ratio of the number of people who “strongly support” the policy to the number who “strongly oppose” it. The IFIC survey provides context by describing the current FDA policy: “FDA requires special labeling when a food is produced under certain conditions: when biotechnology’s use introduces an allergen or when it substantially changes the food’s nutritional content, like vitamins or fat, or its composition. Otherwise, special labeling is not required. Would you say that you support or oppose this policy of the FDA?”
According to Schmidt, “The strong support for the current policy may reflect the public’s overall confidence in the FDA’s ability to regulate food, but it also is likely the result of having more information and context from which to relate an educated opinion. Other surveys that lack context or use negative, emotional terms to frighten consumers do not accurately reflect the wisdom or attitudes of most consumers.”
Consumer awareness remains stable, with 73 percent of respondents saying they have read or heard “a lot,” “some,” or “a little” about biotechnology. In addition to strong consumer support of agricultural biotechnology, recent data released by the USDA’s National Statistics Service found that U.S. farmers intend to increase the amounts of biotech crops that they will plant in 2003. Planting estimates for 2003 biotech crops are as follows: the amount of biotech corn planted will increase by 4 percent to 38 percent of all corn planted in the United States, the amount of biotech soybeans planted will be up by 5 percent to 80 percent of the total crop, and the amount of biotech cotton planted will remain statistically unchanged at 70 percent.
The survey was conducted April 1 to 10, 2003 by Cogent Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and consisted of approximately 1,000 telephone interviews among a nationally representative sample of adults ages 18 and older in the continental United States. Full survey results and consumer information can be found on the IFIC Web site (http://ific.org).
