Synthetic biology applied in the agri-food sector: Understanding societal responses

Abstract

Synthetic biology (SB) has the potential to deliver various novel agri-food applications. However, a mapping review of the existing literature on public attitudes indicated that agri-food applications may be less acceptable to the public, compared to medical and environmental applications. Research into public attitudes, at present, is limited, and is mainly focused on SB per se rather than on its specific applications. This research seeks to address this knowledge gap. As scientific experts in the area of SB contribute to innovation trajectories and regulatory frameworks linked to SB, semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand how Chinese (n = 9) and EU experts (n = 13) think the public may respond to SB applications. The results suggested that experts were concerned about public rejection of SB in the agri-food sector. In contrast, according to the focus group research (6 groups) among Chinese citizens (n = 32), most participants evaluated SB agri-food applications on a case-by-case analysis, and did not reject SB as an enabling technology. Subsequently, online surveys were conducted to investigate Chinese public responses to genetically modified (GM) (n = 1,411) and SB-based (n = 1,330) agri-food applications, respectively. The results showed that participants had positive general attitudes towards SB food, despite the influence of their prior beliefs about GM food. A framework that explained public attitude formation towards SB agri-food applications was developed and tested using structural equation modelling. The results demonstrated that benefit perceptions were the most important in predicting participants’ application acceptance compared to general attitudes, affective responses and risk perceptions. Future SB-related agri-food policy- and communication strategy-making, as well as application development, should consider public attitudinal differences across applications and contexts. Co-production of applications and polices with the public was identified as an important part of the technological innovation process.