TY - CHAP
T1 - Public Knowledge and Perceptions of Safety Issues Towards the Use of Genetically Modified Forest Trees: A Cross-Country Pilot Survey
AU - Kazana, Vassiliki
AU - Tsourgiannis, Lambros
AU - Iakovoglou, Valasia
AU - Stamatiou, Christos
AU - Alexandrov, Alexander
AU - Araújo, Susana
AU - Bogdan, Saša
AU - Bozic, Gregor
AU - Brus, Robert
AU - Bossinger, Gerd
AU - Boutsimea, Anastasia
AU - Celepirovic, Nevenka
AU - Cvrčková, Helena
AU - Fladung, Matthias
AU - Ivankovic, Mladen
AU - Kazaklis, Angelos
AU - Koutsona, Paraskevi
AU - Luthar, Zlata
AU - Máchová, Pavliná
AU - Vidal, Nieves
AU - Tel-Zur, Noemi
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - Information on public awareness and acceptance issues regarding the use of Genetically Modified (GM) trees in forestry is lacking, although such information is available for GM organisms in agriculture. This is mainly due to the fact that in Europe there is no authorization for commercial planting of GM forest trees. To address this issue and within the frame of a European COST Action on the Biosafety of Transgenic Forest Trees (FP0905), a KAP (Knowledge Attitude Practice) cross-country pilot survey was conducted among university students of different disciplines as sampling subjects. In total, 1920 completed questionnaires from 16 European and non-European countries were evaluated. The results provided novel cross-country insights into the level of public knowledge, particularly of young people and their perceptions on safety issues related to the use of GM forest trees, as well as on their attitude towards the acceptance of GM forest trees cultivation. The majority of the respondents, which was more than 60 % in all countries, approved the use of GM forest trees for commercial plantations, excluding natural forests. The majority of respondents also appeared willing to buy products from such plantations, such as wood products, pulp and paper. Over 80 % of the respondents from all countries were in favour of using labelling to identify products of GM origin, while more than 80 % of those would prefer that this labelling be legally mandatory. The top three benefits that were rated as very important in all countries involved the potential lower demand of the GM forest plantations for pesticides, the potential of GM forest trees for restoration of contaminated soils and the potential higher GM forest tree productivity. The top three GM forest tree risks that were perceived as serious hazards in all countries included the potential loss of biodiversity due to gene flow between transgenic and wild trees, the adverse effects of biotrophic processes on host ecosystems and the cultural adaptation to changing biodiversity conditions due to transgene escape. Overall, lack of knowledge regarding the potential benefits and potential risks of the cultivation of GM forest trees was observed in almost all surveyed countries.
AB - Information on public awareness and acceptance issues regarding the use of Genetically Modified (GM) trees in forestry is lacking, although such information is available for GM organisms in agriculture. This is mainly due to the fact that in Europe there is no authorization for commercial planting of GM forest trees. To address this issue and within the frame of a European COST Action on the Biosafety of Transgenic Forest Trees (FP0905), a KAP (Knowledge Attitude Practice) cross-country pilot survey was conducted among university students of different disciplines as sampling subjects. In total, 1920 completed questionnaires from 16 European and non-European countries were evaluated. The results provided novel cross-country insights into the level of public knowledge, particularly of young people and their perceptions on safety issues related to the use of GM forest trees, as well as on their attitude towards the acceptance of GM forest trees cultivation. The majority of the respondents, which was more than 60 % in all countries, approved the use of GM forest trees for commercial plantations, excluding natural forests. The majority of respondents also appeared willing to buy products from such plantations, such as wood products, pulp and paper. Over 80 % of the respondents from all countries were in favour of using labelling to identify products of GM origin, while more than 80 % of those would prefer that this labelling be legally mandatory. The top three benefits that were rated as very important in all countries involved the potential lower demand of the GM forest plantations for pesticides, the potential of GM forest trees for restoration of contaminated soils and the potential higher GM forest tree productivity. The top three GM forest tree risks that were perceived as serious hazards in all countries included the potential loss of biodiversity due to gene flow between transgenic and wild trees, the adverse effects of biotrophic processes on host ecosystems and the cultural adaptation to changing biodiversity conditions due to transgene escape. Overall, lack of knowledge regarding the potential benefits and potential risks of the cultivation of GM forest trees was observed in almost all surveyed countries.
KW - GM forest tree benefits
KW - GM forest tree risks
KW - GM forest tree cultivation public acceptance
KW - KAP survey
U2 - 10.1007/978-94-017-7531-1_12
DO - 10.1007/978-94-017-7531-1_12
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-94-017-7529-8
VL - 82
SP - 223
EP - 244
BT - Biosafety of Forest Transgenic Trees. Forestry Sciences
PB - Springer, Dordrecht
ER -