Evolution of the Regulatory System for GM Crops in Brazil - Governing Risk in GM Agriculture - page 127

food safety decision making. EU consumers have therefore demanded
more public participation in the policy-making process for GM crops and
food products. To regain trust by the citizens, several EU and national
level strategies have been created. Among these strategies is the use of
surveys of public perception and opinion about GM crops and foods as
part of the policy-making process (see Chapters 3 and 4).
Studies about the public perception of science are seen as fundamen-
tal to define policies for the development of future technological inno-
vations that will be publicly acceptable. In the EU context, this research
aims to map public opinion on new technologies, especially biotechnol-
ogy and its applications in agriculture and food systems. 26 However, in
Brazil, this approach is lacking. According to Guivant, 27 the absence of
such research results in debates about GM crops that involve a limited
set of actors who are not truly representative of the public, and does not
amount to public participation.
In the several fields of study that investigate public perception of
science and technology, the theory of Social Representations plays an
important role. This theory deals with how new scientific knowledge
spreads and is appropriated by different social groups, and is derived
from research on the popularization of science. 28 According to the
theory, social representations are a set of concepts, affirmations, and
explanations that originate from communications between individuals
and groups. 29

In this sense, they help to master the environment in

26 See: Gaskell, G.; Allum, N., & Stares, S. (2002). Europeans and biotechnology in
2002. Eurobarometer 58.0. Report to the EC Directorate General for Research from
the Project 'Life Sciences in European Society' QLG7-CT-1999-00286. London School
of Economics: Londres.
27 Guivant, J. (2006). Transg enicos e percep¸ ao publica da ci encia no Brasil. Ambiente
& Sociedade - Vol. IX, n. 1 Jan./Jun. 2006.
28 Bauer, M. A populariza¸ ao da ci encia como imuniza¸ ao cultural: a fun¸ ao de
resist encia das representa¸ oes sociais. In: P.A, Guareschi & S. Jovchelovitch (Orgs.),
Textos em representa¸ oes sociais (pp. 229-257). Petr opolis: Vozes, 1994.
29 Moscovici, S. The phenomenon of social representations. In: S. Moscovici & G.
Duveen (Orgs.), Social representations: Explorations in social psychology (18-77).
Cambridge: Polity, 2000.