Why Are People Hostile to Biotechnologies

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Why Are People Hostile to Biotechnologies? 

• Massimiano Bucchi
• Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali
• Università di Trento
• Ischia, EPSO Conference, 12 october 2004

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THE DEFICIT MODEL
MEDIA
PUBLIC
SCIENCE
Keywords Mediation Distortion
Sensationalization science as too difficult
for the lay public (specialization) the media
as a dirty messanger for science blame the
messenger
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Study details/1
Three phone surveys on a sample of 1000 units,
representative of Italian population, stratified
by gender, age. Interviews in November, 2000,
December, 2001, May 2003.
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Study details/2

• Study conducted by Observa Science in Society
  www.observanet.it in collaboration with
  Fondazione Bassetti
• Scientific supervision Massimiano Bucchi
  (Università di Trento) and Federico Neresini
  (Università di Padova).

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(No Transcript)
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Level of information on biotechnologies
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Do you think it is USEFUL
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Do you think it is RISKY
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Do you consider MORALLY ACCEPTABLE
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Judgments of usefulness/risk/moral acceptability,
comparison 2001-2003
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Among the following factors, which one do you
consider most risky?
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Overall, do you think research on GMOs should be
continued in our country?
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Overall, do you think research on medical
biotechnologies should be continued in our
country?
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Only genetically modified tomatoes contain genes
while ordinary tomatoes don't" by level of
exposure to science in the media
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Level of information on biotechnologies and
exposure to science in the media (, N 1017).






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Current regulations are sufficient to protect
from biotechnology risks/informative level
(N1017)  
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Moral acceptability of cloning to help infertile
women have children / level of information on
biotechnologies
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Most trustworthy information sources on
biotechnologies 1996-2003
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What comes to your mind thinking about Science?
(average scores)
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Do you see scientists as rather in agreement or
disagreement on GMOs?
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Do you see scientists as rather in agreement or
disagreement on human cloning?
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Judgements on GMOs/perception of divisions inside
the scientific community
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of those who consider GMOs risky among those
who think decisions on biotechnologies should be
taken by
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Who should decide whether to continue research on
biotechnologies?
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- What is the state of research?- We are trying
to understand what kind of diseases people want
to have
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FURTHER INFORMATION

• M. Bucchi, F. Neresini, Biotech Remains Unloved
  by the More Informed, Nature, 416, 21 March 2002
• M. Bucchi, F. Neresini, Why Are People Hostile
  to Biotechnologies?, Science, vol.304, 18 june
  2004.
• www.observanet.it
• www.fondazionebassetti.org