also show that roughly between 35% to 45% of American consumers consider themselves heard
or read a lot or some about biotechnology (International Food Information Council Foundation,
2001) In Europe, on the other hand, the supports for GM technology in general and GM foods in
particular are relatively low as compared to the U.S. Based on a European consumer survey
conducted in 1999, Gaskell (2000) shows that Europeans are mostly neutral about agricultural
biotechnology but opposed to both GM foods and cloning of animals, especially in countries
such as Greece, Austria, and Luxemburg. Specifically, the survey indicates that only 22% of the
Europeans respondents are supporters of GM foods, 25% are risk tolerant supporters, and up to
53% are opponents. A study in the U.K. shows that while 11% of the respondents would not try
GM foods, 42% say they might still try, indicating that U.K. consumers are not highly opposed
to GM foods (Loader and Henson, 1998). Another study conducted by Nordic Industrial Fund
(2000) for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden also suggests that Nordic consumers are
united in their negative attitudes toward GM foods. Another study by Burton et al. (2001) based
on a survey of residents in Manchester, United Kingdom shows that the average willingness to
pay to achieve a reduction in risk associated with GM products is 9.8% of the respondent’s food
expenditure, and the average willingness to pay to achieve a GM free diet is 13% of their food
expenditure. Their study also finds that gender is a significant determinant of attitudes towards
the GM technology and female respondents are willing to pay more to reduce risk.
In Asian countries, a study by Hoban (1996) concludes that Japanese consumers have
similarly optimistic attitudes toward GM biotechnology as American consumers, as 87% of the
Japanese respondents in his study were positive about the use of biotechnology. However, a
recent study by Macer and Ng (2000) indicates that a small majority of Japanese respondents in
the past three years have been favorably inclined to GM technology and consider it as means of
improving the quality of life (54% in 1997 and 59% in 2000), implying the changing attitudes