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P. BASARAN, Dept. of Food Engineering, Suleyman Demirel Univ., Cunur Kampusu, Isparta, 32260, Turkey, N. Basaran, Food Science & Technology, Cornell Univ., New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 630 W. North St., Geneva, NY 14456-1371, H. Sengun, Dept. of Political Sciences, Ankara Univ., Ankara, 06100, Turkey, B. Kilic, Dept. of Food Science, Suleyman Demirel Univ., Cunur Kampusu, Isparta, 32240, Turkey, and H. Soyyigit, Food Engineering, Suleyman Demirel University, College of Agriculture, Cunur, Isparta, 32260, Turkey. Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) is a general term defined as organisms derived from microorganisms, plants, or animals that have been manipulated at the molecular level to provide them with desired traits. Since first introduced to consumers in 1990s, GMOs manufactured through bio-engineering raised economic, ethical, moral and environmental issues in both developed and developing countries. Several surveys have been conducted to determine the public perception of GMOs in the USA, Europe and elsewhere; however, very few surveys have been carried on how the GMOs are perceived in developing countries. The main objective in this pilot study was to evaluate the beliefs, awareness, attitude and perception, general willingness among educated young Turkish adults with regard to GM foods in general. Correspondents represented 7 province and 54 different cities. It revealed that 62% of correspondents were aware of GMOs, while only 3.3% answered they were “very well informed” about GM foods prior to the survey. Roughly 68% of the correspondence knew the definition of GMO and nearly one third (36.2%) of the participants surveyed had not heard about the GMOs. When asked whether GM foods are safe or risky to human health, 26% feared that GM foods poses a serious hazard to consumers. The highest concurrent correspondence (91.1%) was concerned about the labelling and found important to label GMOs. It is concluded that the more increased the knowledge, the perceived risk due to biotechnology has found decreased. The knowledge and attitude of the participants in Turkey suggests the need for dissemination of information and education to improve.
Session 110, Biotechnology: General
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