Public attitudes towards the use of transgenic forest trees: a cross-country pilot survey

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

Mara K¹  Luthar Z²  Alexandrov A³  Tsvetkov I³  Ivankovic M⁴  Celepirović N⁴  Paffetti D⁵  Brus R⁶  Iakovoglou V⁷  Boutsimea A⁷  Kazana V⁷  Raptis D⁷  Stamatiou C⁷  Kazaklis A⁷  Koutsona P⁷  Malá J⁸  Máchová P⁸  Cvrčková H⁸  Tel-Zur N⁹  Vettori C^1,10  Salaj T^1,11  Moravcikova J^1,11  Sanchez C^1,12  Vidal N^1,12  Araújo S^1,13  Tsourgiannis L^1,14  Bozic G^1,15  Bossinger G^1,16  Fladung M^1,17  Sharry S^1,18  Mataruga M^1,19  Šijačić-Nikolić M^2,20  Bogdan S^2,21  Paiva Jorge AP^2,22 

[1] Agricultural University of Tirana (Albania);Agronomy Department, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia);Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Forest Research Institute, Kliment Ohridski Blvd. 132, Sofia 1756 (Bulgaria);Croatian Forest Research Institute, Laboratory of molecular-genetic testing, Division of genetics, forest tree breeding and seed science, Cvjetno naselje 41, 10450 Jastrebarsko (Croatia);Department of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science, Agricultural Genetics Section, University of Florence, P. le delle Cascine 28, 50144, Florence (Italy);Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Vecna pot 83, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia);Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, Department of Forestry & Natural Environment Management, 1st km Drama-Mikrohori, 66100 Drama (Greece);Forest and Game Management Research Institute, Strnady 136, 25202 Jílovište (Czech Republic);French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negar, Sede-Boqer Campus, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion (Israel);Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Division of Florence, v. Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy);Institute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademicka 2, PO Box 39A, 95007 Nitra (Slovakia);Instituto de Investigaciones Agrobiológicas de Galicia (CSIC), La Coruna (Spain);Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal & Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), Biotrop, Rua da Junqueira, 30, 1349-007 Lisboa (Portugal);Region of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace, 67100 Xanthi (Greece);Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vecna 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia);The University of Melbourne, Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, Creswick, Victoria 3363 (Australia);Thünen Institute of Forest Genetics, D-22927 Grosshansdorf (Germany);Universidad Nacional de la Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, Av.60 y119-c.C. 31, La Plata (Argentina);University of Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina);University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry (Serbia);University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest, Genetics, Dendrology and Botany,Svetošimunska 25, 10 000 Zagreb (Croatia);iBET, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Apartado 12, 2780-901 Oeiras, Portugal & Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), Biotrop, Rua da Junqueira, 30, 1349-007 Lisboa (Portugal);

关键词: GM Forest Trees;    Public Awareness;    Public Acceptance;    k-means Clustering;    University Students;   

DOI  :  10.3832/ifor1441-008

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Information on public attitudes towards the use of transgenic trees in forest plantations is important in the decision-making process and policy implementation for safe tree development, particularly at the EU level. In Europe, the use of transgenic forest trees is very limited and therefore such information is completely lacking. To address this issue within the FP0905 European COST Action on the Biosafety of Transgenic Forest Trees a pioneer cross-country pilot survey on public attitudes towards the use of transgenic forest trees was conducted using young population as a focus group. This was decided mainly because this focus group represents the future consumers, policy makers or developers. Specifically, the survey aimed to: i) assess the level of young people’s knowledge about transgenic forest trees, ii) identify issues of concern to them regarding the cultivation of transgenic forest trees and iii) explore whether they approve or disapprove of the use of transgenic forest trees in plantations. Purposive sampling was performed and university students of different disciplines were included in the research as sampling subjects. In total, 1868 completed questionnaires from 15 European and non-European countries were analyzed. The young educated people that took part in the survey appeared to approve of the use of transgenic forest trees in plantations and would be willing to buy forest transgenic products. The potential loss of biodiversity due to a risk of gene flow between transgenic and wild trees was seen as the safety issue of most concern when considering the commercial release of transgenic forest trees. However, a serious perceived lack of knowledge about potential benefits and risks of the cultivation of transgenic forest trees was recorded in most of the countries. K-means clustering was implemented on respondents’ positive responses to identify potential country patterns. No differences in patterns of public attitude towards the acceptance of the commercial growing of transgenic forest trees were observed between European and non-European countries. Extended research on public attitude issues towards the use of transgenic forest trees is strongly recommended as a basis for policy implementation on safe tree development.

【 授权许可】

Unknown