Study of public perception in France about a potential fortuitous import of Genetically Modified Fish

Abstract

acte édité sur CD page 225DOGMATIS is a multidisciplinary research project funded by the French Research Agency (ANR, programme ANR-OGM 2007-2010). The transgenic technologies have been applied to fish since more than 20 years now and some strains are at the premarket or market stage in countries outside Europe. In Europe the main risk is a fortuitous import. Any rumour of uncontrolled arrival of GM fish on the European market may have strong impacts on the market chain, the research and innovation system and the trust in public regulation. The aim of DOGMATIS is to anticipate the answers. This programme is presented in another communication in IIFET 2010. As for socio-economic aspects, we studied the risk of fortuitous imports, as mentioned in the other communication, and we studied the perception of the public through two methodologies : (i) consumers focus groups organised twice (2007 and 2010); (ii) some comprehensive interviews with economic actors (wholesalers, retailers, supermarkets, fish farmers) and NGO. We propose to present the main points of our results about public perception, showing a complex set of perceptions linked with a multi-faceted image of transgenetic animals, as a potential technical innovation and/or a potential source of questions and debates by numerous ways