Title: The effect of religion, education and income on the level of acceptance of biotechnology

Authors: Amir Heiman, David Just, David Zilberman

Addresses: Department of Economics and Management, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of, California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of, California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Abstract: Consumers| concerns about the health impacts of genetically modified foods (GMF) are perceived to be the largest threat to the future development of agricultural biotechnology. Using the results of a survey in Israel, this paper shows that more religious people have a higher tendency to oppose GMF while more educated people are more likely to accept it. Acceptance of GMF is high when it is presented in a context of choice between GMF and chemical treatments of food. 

Keywords: genetically modified foods (GMF); biotechnology; consumer acceptance; religion; education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2001.000163

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2001 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.257-259

Published online: 13 Jul 2003 *

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