"What’s for Dinner? Variations in European Support for Genetically Modified Food"

Kurzer, Paulette and Cooper, Alice. (2005) "What’s for Dinner? Variations in European Support for Genetically Modified Food". In: UNSPECIFIED, Austin, Texas. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. In this paper, we examine why some member states are more hostile to GMO than others. A considerable literature has analyzed why the US and EU have taken different approaches to GMO and why American consumers placidly ingest thousands of products containing GM matter while their European counterparts reject the same technology and food products as risky. Explanations range from different economics of farming and food production, consumer fears about food safety, different regulatory climates, the strength of the green biotechnology industry, strategies of non-governmental organizations, trust in public agencies, and food culture (Bernauer 2003; Gaskell, Bauer, Durant, and Allum 1999; Joly and Marris 2003; Levidow, Carr, and Wield 2000; Meins 2003; Gaskell, Allum, and Stares 2003). Other analysts stress cycles of regulatory activity and retrenchment, claiming that the EU finds itself in the midst of a precautionary regulatory phase while the US has become more leery of extensive federal government intervention in the fields of consumer and environmental protection (Dunlop 2000; Vogel 2003).

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