Among a variety of controversial issues, food safety is, perhaps, the most debated one. A fast rise in obesity rates and chronic health conditions made Americans think more about what they eat. Dietary habits and attitudes form under the influence of news, blogs, TV-shows, high school and university education. Researchers admit that education and gender are the prior factors which affect consumers’ attitudes. Thus, nearly a half of high school graduates who participated in a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2015 reported that GM food is generally safe to eat. More than 60 percent of respondents with a college degree admitted that GMOs are dangerous to health.
Age does not make a big difference in attitudes. A majority of adults agree that GM food is unsafe, however, this tendency was formed under the influence of education. Attitudes of younger and older adults actually do not differ. About a half of them reported that they look for GM labels while shopping at the supermarket. On the other side, figures among representatives of different gender and race do not coincide. Women tend to be more anxious about the dangerous consequences of GMOs, and many people of color think that modified food is quite normal.
The majority of respondents agreed that most scientists cannot fully estimate the consequences of GM food. The research on the food safety issues clearly explains the effects of chemicals on humans and environment while modification of genes has been described as uncontrollable so far. People like to be informed about whether the consequences are positive or negative. Confusion is the only possible reaction to the phenomenon which has not been properly investigated yet.