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Lookup NU author(s): Shan Jin, Dr Beth ClarkORCiD, Professor Lynn FrewerORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Synthetic biology (SB) has attracted global interest in recent years due to its potential not only to produce various potentially beneficial applications including within the agri-food sector but also to cause multiple risks. However, public attitudes towards SB food have been infrequently investigated. The focus of this research relates to how Chinese participants respond to different SB agri-food applications, and whether these responses differ from responses to GM foods. Seven categories of factors that shaped participants’ attitudes towards SB agri-food applications were identified based on six focus groups in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. These were: 1) perceived benefit, risk and ethical issues associated with specific SB applications, 2) affect/emotions evoked by SB applications, 3) attitudes associated with SB in general, 4) features or traits of applications, 5) personal experience and values, 6) social context, and 7) information to which individuals are exposed. Whilst some participants “made sense” of SB based on existing attitudes towards GM, participants’ attitudes towards SB were less crystallised, resulting in more changes of attitudes towards SB applications after group discussions compared with GM applications. Perceptions of ethical issues associated with SB using synthetic genes also differed from those associated with GM which uses genes from other organisms. The results indicate that it is necessary to establish a more effective mechanism to engage interested stakeholders, including consumers, and co-develop socially acceptable SB agri-food products. It is also important to consider the combined influence of multiple factors in specific cultural or socio-economic contexts when developing targeted communication strategies.
Author(s): Jin S, Clark B, Liu Z, Frewer LJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Risk Research
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 25/11/2024
Acceptance date: 12/11/2024
Date deposited: 12/11/2024
ISSN (print): 1366-9877
ISSN (electronic): 1466-4461
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2024.2431893
DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2024.2431893
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/cdhr-jp22
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