1、Name: KYCGroup: Business Studies group HTitle: A survey to discover peoples attitudes towards GM foodDate: October 20102Contents Pages1) Introduction . 3 2) Method 43) Findings .5 84) Discussion . 105) Conclusion . 106) Acknowledgement 10 7) Appendix . 11-12 3IntroductionOver the years, genetically
2、modified (GM) foods have been a controversial issue in society. Some believe that they can solve the present food crisis while others draw attention to the environmental impacts and ethical problems they create. Even Prince Charles voiced his opinions about GM foods last year. But what does the publ
3、ic thinks about GM foods? The purpose of the survey is to discover peoples awareness and attitude towards GM foods.Method1) In October 2009, he survey was carried out of 40 respondents in Stratford-upon-Avon, most of whom were students. 2) They were categorized according to gender, age and nationali
4、ty.43) The survey was conducted by means of questionnaire with 10 questions including 2 open-ended ones. 4) The first question asked about their knowledge of GM foods and their interest in this issue. 5) Questions 3-4 considered the government role on GM foods; Questions 5-8 were concerned about how
5、 people choose foods. 6) Question 9 and 10 asked about the possible ethical problems, benefits and drawbacks that GM foods may bring respectively. 7) After completion of the survey, the data was analysed to see if any general conclusions could be drawn.ResultsQuestion1: How much do you know about GM
6、 food?51) Surprisingly, the majority of respondents knew nothing or very little about the issue (65%), with a quarter of them knowing a fair amount about it. 2) Only 4 people (10%) agreed that they had considerable knowledge and no one claimed that they knew a lot. Question2: Are you interested in p
7、rogrammes/articles about GM food?3) More than half of the people questioned had no interest in GM food programmes and articles. 4) In contrast, few people who chose the option “interested” or “very interested” (3%). Question3: Do you think the government should take measures to manage the production
8、 of GM food?6Quesion4: What kind of measures do you think should be taken? (In response to question3)5) On the one hand, almost 70% of respondents believed that the government should take measures to manage the production of GM food and among them, most people preferred mandatory labeling on food pa
9、ckages to voluntary labeling, followed by printing warning labels. 6) Others suggested that the genetic modification process should also be monitored. 7) On the other hand, almost one third of people were not in favor of any government measures.Question5: Do you read the labels on food packaging?7Qu
10、estion 6: What particular information do you look for? 8) Almost everyone read the labels on food packages and they usually searched for nutritional values. 9) The number of people who looked for fair trade, recyclability, GM food content and suitability e.g. vegetarian, allergy etc. was approximate
11、ly equal.Question7: Which of the following factors affect your choice of food?810) Although people look at the nutritional values on food packages, health was not their biggest concern, and it only accounted for around one-fifth of respondents. Question8: Are you willing to pay extra to avoid GM foo
12、ds?Question9: Do you think GM foods involve ethical problems?11) Unexpectedly, 70% of interviewees were not aware of the ethical problems involved in GM food production. 12) The remaining 30% of people believed that GM food production involved problems for vegetarians because vegetables may contain
13、the genes of animals. 13) Vegetarians may consequently eat meat accidentally. Question10: Do you think GM foods benefit the society as a whole?914) The final question was designed to investigate whether people were aware of the benefits and damage caused by GM food and also to find out the value jud
14、gment behind their choices. 15) More than half (55%) of the respondents were aware of the possible benefits of this bio-technology. 16) However, some argued that GM food may pose potential threats to human health including genetic diseases. 17) People believed that more research should be done befor
15、e it becomes beneficial to human beings.Discussion1) While it is difficult to generalize from a survey of this size, it did reveal a number of interesting contrasts. 2) The survey demonstrated that even though GM food is widely debated among experts for its possible benefits and harmful effects, it
16、aroused little attention among the interviewees. 3) As a consequence, the majority of respondents were not particularly concerned about the health risks associated with GM foods and were not willing to pay extra money to avoid them. 4) One possible reason for this is that the majority of respondents
17、 were in the “under 18” and “18-29” age groups who are not the major food buyers within a household. Therefore, they might not come across information related to food.5) In addition, even though the respondents knew little about GM food, almost three-quarters of them supported government control ove
18、r its production. 6) An explanation for this could be that most respondents were educated young people who are exposed to the debate through extensive media coverage. 7) However, they feel that it is quite remote from the main priorities in their lives.Conclusion1) In conclusion, respondents general
19、ly accepted GM food but in fact they did not understand how it changes our food production and its potential problems. 2) It is suggested that more education and attention should be paid to the issue in order to allow people to make the best choices for themselves, especially for teenagers who are ignorant about it. 10(841 words)
