Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Country/
Population
Surveyed by
Details
Beijing, China,
Shiajiazhuang,
China
Ho and
Vermeer, 2004
40 percent were willing or rather willing to consume
foods containing GE-based ingredients, 51 percent were
neutral, and 9 percent were rather unwilling or very
unwilling to consume the foods.
Flemish
speakers
in Belgium
Verdurme and
Viaene,
2003
15 percent opposed to GE foods;34 percent perceived
small risks and small benefits;26 percent perceived
moderate risks and moderate benefits; and 23 percent
perceived large benefits.
United
Kingdom
2003 GE Public
Debate
Steering board
86 percent preferred not to eat GE foods;8 percent
happy to eat GE foods.
Source: Compiled by USDA's Economic Research Service.
While surveys and willingness-to-pay studies provide some insight into
consumer opinion, they often do not reflect how consumers will behave in a
real market situation when purchasing goods and services. Each food product
has many characteristics, such as taste, color, and ripeness. The presence of a
biotech-derived component is only one attribute. Empirically, it is difficult to
determine what percentage of the price a consumer is paying for a specific
characteristic. There are no published studies that indicate how many
consumers have actually paid a premium to purchase non-GE goods, but there
is some empirical evidence of the types of goods that are currently offered for
sale to consumers. In the United States, many products contain GE ingredients,
and the demands for these products apparently have been unaffected by
negative opinions about biotechnology expressed in surveys. A few specialty
brands are marketed as “GE free,” but they represent a small percentage of
supermarket sales.
12
In some other countries, however, strong consumer
demand for non-GE products has limited the availability of GE items (see box,
“Biotech Product Differentiation: A Tale of Two Markets”).
Table 5. Willingness to Pay for Foods
That do not Contain GE Ingredients
1
Country
Food
Study
Willingness-to-pay premium
United States
Vegetable
oil
Tegene et
al., 2003
In experimental auctions, consumers willing to
pay 14 percent more for non-GE food.
United States
Potatoes
Loureiro and
Hine, ` 2002
Customers willing to pay 5 percent more for
non-GE food.
United States
Golden rice
Lusk, 2003
Customers willing to pay 93 cents for GE
“golden rice” with added vitamin C, 65-75
cents for regular rice.
