Public Perception of People in Bushehr about GMOs

This study was conducted to evaluate the public attitudes towards Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Bushehr city in south-west Iran. For this purpose, 295 questionnaires with 39 items were randomly distributed among people in Bushehr in 2009. These questionnaires had three parts including personal information, perception levels and public attitudes in the field of GMOs. Results showed that education level and age were the most influential factors on the public perceptions about these organisms. The results also showed that the public awareness about GMOs is limited. Only 3% had enough knowledge and around 25 percentages had no information in this filed. Nevertheless, less than 33% of participants were disagreed with the conception of GMOs. Participants with 18-25 years old and people with more than 45 years old were the most and the least knowledgeable group of people about GMOs, respectively. Around 45% of people had previous exposure and had studied at various levels about these organisms. Based on our results, 34% and 40% of participants had no information whatsoever about the application of biotechnology in plant and animal sciences, respectively.