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European regulations for labelling the genetically modified commodity crops Round‐up Ready Soya and Bt Maize have been agreed and came into force on 1 September 1998. The regulation requires labelling of ingredients that contain genetically modified DNA or modified protein. Labelling is not required where processing has resulted in modified DNA or protein being destroyed. With the aim of providing consumer information and ensuring consumer choice, UK industry had phased in labelling of genetically modified soya and maize protein since January 1998, ahead of the EU regulation being agreed. This voluntary labelling was on the basis of guidelines drawn up by an IGD Working Group. The voluntary guidelines are very similar to the EU labelling regulation. Under the terms of the labelling regulation, further discussions are necessary in Europe to agree a list of ingredients that will not require labelling on the basis that no modified DNA or protein is present, with the aim that these ingredients do not need to be tested each time they are used. Where efforts have been taken to source the non‐genetically modified varieties, the concept of a threshold has been put forward to allow for adventitious mixing with the genetically modified crop. Further discussions are necessary to agree where the threshold should be set. It is expected that the regulation will be the basis for labelling future genetically modified products.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dynamic of consumers' perceptions of GM food and explore whether their knowledge of GM technology is associated with a significant change.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of 156 primary studies reporting a total of 225 attitudes toward genetically modified foods. To identify the impact of consumers' knowledge of GM technology, the authors estimate multivalued treatment effects model.

The results of this study show that consumers' attitudes show a U shape during 2001–2022. That is, the rise in opposition to genetically modified foods has been reversed. In addition, this study also shows that the increase in consumers' knowledge of genetically modified technology contributes to their changes in attitude.

This paper is the first study that empirically investigates the dynamics of Chinese consumers' attitude to genetically modified foods, and shows the rise in opposition to genetically modified foods has been reversed, which has important implication for commercialization of genetically modified crops in China.

Explores the scope for using genetically modified organisms by undertaking a survey which considered awareness (knowledge) of and policy implications for both the UK food retailer and manufacturer. Uses interviews and a postal questionnaire. Finds that the UK food retailing industry is generally well‐informed, while in contrast to the retailers, food manufacturers are, in general, poorly informed and show a lack of awareness of possible products and the implications their usage may have for their companies. Few are abreast of research and development in this area. Both retailers and food manufacturers believe that biotechnology could be applied beneficially to many aspects of food production, and are aware of the many consumer concerns and issues which need to be addressed.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of information about traceability and new detection methods for identifying genetically‐modified organisms in food, on consumer attitudes towards genetically‐modified food and consumer trust in regulators in Italy, Norway and England. It further aimed to investigate public preferences for labelling of genetically‐modified foods in these three countries.

A questionnaire was designed to investigate public attitudes toward genetically‐modified food and trust in different information sources. Participants were recruited in Italy, Norway and England for this study. A between subjects design was used, where each participant was randomly allocated to either the experimental “information condition”, or the control “no information condition”.

Receiving information about new detection methods and traceability did not directly influence consumer attitudes towards genetically‐modified foods or trust in regulators. However, response to the development of an effective system of traceability for genetically‐modified food and ingredients throughout the food chain was positive. People's preferences for labelling of genetically‐modified food were “process‐based”, in that there was a desire for all food produced using genetic modification or containing genetically‐modified ingredients to be labelled.

An open and transparent system of labelling regarding genetically‐modified foods and ingredients, coupled with effective traceability mechanisms, is likely to provide the best basis for consumer choice regarding the consumption of genetically‐modified foods. This information will be useful for both national and international regulators, and the various sectors of the food industry. The study provides useful information about likely public reaction to new EU labelling and traceability regulations.

The chapter analyses the re-emergence of gene editing as an object of policy attention at the European Union (EU) level. Editing the genome of plants and/or animals has been a rather controversial component of all EU policies on agricultural biotechnology since the late 1980s. The chapter examines in detail the various initiatives that have been assumed for the regulation of gene editing at the EU level. Since the first political and legislative attempts, the field has been revolutionized with the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which is comparatively much easier to design, produce, and use. Beyond the pure, safety-driven scientific questions, gene editing, in its contemporary form, raises a series of ethical and regulatory questions that are discussed in the context of the legal options and competences of the EU legislators. Special attention is paid to questions about the legal status of gene editing in Europe and the adequacy of the current GMO framework to deal with all the challenges associated with the latest scientific developments in the field of gene editing with a special focus on gene drive. Given the ongoing discussions regarding the ethical tenets of gene editing, the chapter investigates the question on whether there is a need to shape an EU-wide “intervention” that will address the complex and dynamic socio-ethical challenges of gene editing and puts forward a series of proposals for the framing of an inclusive framework that will be based on the need to re-enforce public trust in the EU governance of emerging technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether China’s public sector can continue to generate advanced genetically modified (GM) technologies that will be competitive in the market.

The authors investigated all the research teams that have been conducting research projects under the variety development special program. The data collected include detail information on research capacity, research areas, performance, and process of their research projects. Based on the survey data, the authors assessed the innovations and progress of the variety development special program.

Unlike other countries, most GM products in China are developed by public research institutes. There is rising concern on the ability of China’s public sector to continuously generate indigenous GM technology that can compete with multinational companies. The study surveyed 197 research institutes and 487 research teams and found that the GM program in China lacks coordination: researchers do not want to share their research materials with others. Due to the lack of coordination, most of the hundreds of research teams often worked independently in the year 2008-2010. Moreover, the authors found the lack of coordination may be due to the reason that the interests of researchers are not well protected. This paper also provided the recent progress and policy changes of GM program in China, and it found that the efficiency in the later three years improved a lot. In order to establish a competitive national public GM research system, China should continuously consolidate and integrate the upstream, midstream, and downstream activities of the whole GM innovation process. China’s public sector may also need to work more closely with both the domestic and international private sectors.

This paper is a comprehensive analysis on the development of transgenic technology in China. The results of this paper can provide evidence for the dynamic adjustment of the policies in the variety development special program and can also provide reference for the future assessment of the variety development special program.

The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated analysis of determining factors of farmers’ genetically modified (GM) technology adoption behavior, with a special emphasis on information acquisition, knowledge accumulation, product attributes and technology traits.

Extending the expected profit maximization framework into a random utility model which accommodates joint decisions of information acquisition and technology adoption, the authors use the full information maximum likelihood method to yield both consistent and efficient estimates. The model is applied to a field survey collecting a sample of 141 randomly selected bananas farmers.

The empirical results indicate information acquired through social network will increase the probability of adoption. Knowledge accumulation as depicted by education and farming experience is found to play a role in farmers’ technology adoption, whereas disease-resistant technology trait and flavor-enriching product attribute of GM bananas also appear to be important determinants for GM seeds adoption in Taiwan.

Empirical evidence supports significance of technology traits and product attributes in farmer's GM technology adoption, suggesting the close collaboration between industry, government and academia is the key to successful commercialization of GM crops.

Understanding the determinants of farmers’ GM technology adoption can serve as the basis for promoting new biotechnology, and thus can facilitate the establishment of tenable solutions to food security issues.

This paper is the first attempt to incorporate information acquisition into the behavioral analysis of GM technology adoption. The present study also extends previous literature by considering influential factors related to both consumers’ and producers’ preferences in modeling technology adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of different information source on consumer attitudes toward genetically modified food.

The data used in this study are obtained from a large-scale nationwide consumers' survey in urban China conducted by the China Center for Agricultural Policy, Peking University, in 2020. A descriptive analysis between information sources and consumer attitudes toward GM food was conducted. Based on the collected data, an econometric model on the determinants of consumer attitudes was constructed and used for analysis.

This study shows that the impact of new media is currently no different than that of traditional media, indicating that the media campaign successfully reduced the spread of rumors and misinformation regarding GM food. Moreover, this study also shows that consumers whose main information source regarding GM foods is school hold more positive feelings toward such food.

This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of information source on consumer attitudes toward GM food. To reverse consumers' negative attitudes, China has launched a widespread media campaign since the first decade of the 2000s. Results of this study show that authorities' efforts to manage and surveil new media have yielded the desired outcome.

Some researchers argue that consumers’ lack of knowledge is an important factor increasing risk for a new product derived from emerging agricultural technology. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential impacts and the differential effects of subjective and objective perceptions on Chinese consumers’ preferences for the application of a novel biotechnology.

Taking transgenic technology as an example and employing data from a survey of 1,000 consumers in Jiangsu Province, the authors develop a mixed-process regression model based on Fishbein’s multiple attributes attitude model.

The results suggest that there are apparent differences between Chinese consumers’ subjective perceptions and objective perceptions concerning transgenic technology and genetically modified (GM) food, and there exists certain selective perceptions of the emerging biotechnology. Having a subjective perception concerning transgenic technology has a positive effect on consumers’ overall attitudes, whereas subjective and objective perceptions concerning GM foods have a negative effect on consumers’ overall attitudes. Self-identification generated from subjective perception occupies a dominant position in determining consumers’ attitudes.

Consumers’ attitudes regarding an agricultural product depend on their perception of the attributes of the technology used to produce such a product. This study attempts to distinguish and empirically test urban consumers’ subjective perceptions (self-assessed or perceived) and objective perceptions (obtained from a test) about transgenic technology and GM foods and the impact of these four types of perception on the consumers’ attitudes regarding the application of transgenic technology. In this paper, the authors construct a mixed-process regression model to address the possible endogeneity of the perception variables.