Gene-Edited Foods and the Public: The First Representative Survey Study of the United States
Christopher L. Cummings, David J. Peters
Abstract
Recent gene editing tools and techniques continue to develop at a swift pace and gene-edited foods boast significant promise to create identifiable benefits for end-use consumers, although there are currently few publicly identifiable products in the commercial marketplace. While competing stakeholders are active in this space, few public-facing media stories have surfaced and there have been few studies of public opinion of gene-edited foods. This article reports findings of the first representative survey study of public opinion toward gene-edited foods in the United States. This work finds that Americans are divided on their perceptions of this new technology and provides robust and granular assessment and identification of socioeconomic and belief-based classifications to better describe the current state of public opinion in this area.