Public skepticism on GMOs, climate change reflect misunderstandings of risk

| | February 2, 2015
This article or excerpt is included in the GLP’s daily curated selection of ideologically diverse news, opinion and analysis of biotechnology innovation.

The Pew Research Center released their annual Science and Society report (PDF), where they asked over 2,000 members of the general public and over 3,700 scientist members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for their opinions on a diversity of scientific issues. The largest point gap by a good margin was whether GM foods are safe to eat: a whopping 88 percent of scientists unequivocally answered yes, while only 37 percent of the public agreed. And it’s no wonder: the same survey found that only 28 percent of adults think that scientists have a clear understanding of the health effects of genetically modified crops. The public simply doesn’t think that scientists have all the facts. In turn, the scientists feel that the public simply doesn’t understand: 84 percent say that limited public knowledge is a major problem for science in general.

In a way, the scientists are both right and wrong. The scientists are right when they say a lack of knowledge of science literacy is to blame. But it’s not just a matter of knowing, as many scientists would like to believe. The public’s belief that scientists don’t know the consequences of genetic modification that reveals what really underlies the overwhelming distrust of GMOs. It isn’t a lack of information: it’s a misunderstanding of risk.

Though we like to think highly of our rational minds, human beings are actually terrible at assessing risk. Think about it: we’re far more scared of sharks than cars, though the former kills a minute percentage of the people that the latter does every year.

Read full, original article: Risk, trust, and GMOs: can understanding fears help alleviate them?

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