2. INTRODUCTION

2.1 Public Perceptions of Biotechnology
2.2 Conceptual Model

2.1 Public Perceptions of Biotechnology

As new biotechnologies are becoming available, what does the public think of them, and of their benefits and costs? In a democratic society, it is incumbent upon legislators and regulators to take into account the views of the populace on these matters. Genetic engineering is a particularly important area in which to assess public opinion, because it is a very new technology so that very few political choices about its uses and control have been made, let alone institutionalized. Systematically designed questionnaire data collected from large, nationwide representative samples are the only reliable method available for assessing public attitudes and social differences therein.

The 1994 International Social Science Survey/ Australia included a module on attitudes towards genetic engineering. The module began by asking people to rate a series of goals for Australian scientists, to get a general assessment of the desirability of different goals. We then introduced the concept of genetic engineering, and asked respondents to rate the desirability of a set of specific potential uses of genetic engineering. We also asked about the desirability of labeling genetically engineered products; about how much people worry about some potential risks of genetic engineering; about their personal preferences; whether they expect that they themselves would use genetically engineered products; and asked for a global evaluation of whether the benefits of genetic engineering are likely to outweigh the risks. We also asked people about their understanding of genetic engineering and of science and technology generally.

This report briefly summarizes a complex series of analyses. More detailed reports will appear in the academic literature in due course.

2.2 Conceptual Model

I propose that the public's views about genetic engineering can be understood with the aid of a simple model:

Attitudes to genetic engineering project X =

+ Worth of potential benefits offered by X
- Rational worries about potential costs of genetic engineering generally
- Irrational worries
+ Knowledge of genetic engineering
+ Scientific world-view
+/- Various minor factors [Eq. 1]

where the potential benefits are the medical, agricultural and other gains on offer; the rational worries are perceived risks of disease, environmental damage, and the like; irrational worries are fears of fluoridated drinking water or similar (surprisingly widespread) anxieties; knowledge is the public's level of information and understanding; and the scientific world-view is acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution and modern astronomy (e.g. the 'big bang') rather than creationism and related pre-scientific views.

Note that the model of Eq. 1 implies that asking questions about genetic engineering generally, without naming the benefits, will bring up the negatives but not the positives, and so is misleading. I believe this is the cause of much of the confusion about the level of support for genetic engineering in the literature for other countries.

The things that influence genetic engineering have, in turn, their own causes. For example, holding a scientific world-view depends in part on being relatively knowledgeable about genetic engineering, which in turn depends in part on formal educational attainments. Explicating these indirect links helps to reveal the deeper causes and complexities underlying public views about genetic engineering. Schematically, the model I will use in this report is:

The model assumes that:

Age, sex, education, occupation, religion and other background variables can be taken as fixed, causally prior to the other variables we consider here;
Knowledge about science and genetic engineering is caused in part by background variables;
Holding a scientific world-view depends on both background variables, and on knowledge of science and genetic engineering;
What people think about the potential benefits of genetic engineering, and how much they worry about the costs and risks involved, depend in turn on background, knowledge, and whether they hold a scientific world-view; and
all of these things in turn influence what they think of genetic engineering, and whether they would use its products.

Subsequent chapters will take these issues up in turn.

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