Consumer Acceptance of Genetically Modified Foods: Traits, Labels, and Diverse Information - Transgenic Horticultural Crops: Challenges and Opportunities - page 208

However,. when. we. were. experimenting. with. food. traits. to. consider. including.
enhanced. food. products,.we. experimented.with. “low. pesticide.residual”.as.a. food.
quality. attribute.. Consumer. reaction. to. this. trait. was. complex,. because. the. label.
raised.a.dormant.issue.that,.yes,.there.is.pesticide.residue.in.our.food..Mentioning.
that.insect-resistant.( Bt ).traits.could.be.introduced.so.as.to.reduce.the.need.for.farmers.
to.apply.commercial.pesticides,.and.thereby.reduce.chemical.pesticide.residual,.was.
a.hard.sell.
Along. a. similar. line. of. mixed. messages,. Markosyan. et. al.. conducted. surveys.
of. consumers. in. grocery. stores. in. October. 2006. in. the. Paciic. Northwest. to. test.
their.willingness.to.pay.for.“naturally.enriched.antioxidant.coatings”.embedded.in.
the. wax .on.retail.fresh.apples. 41 .In.general,.consumers.were.willing.to.pay.a.little,.
4%-8%.more,.for.the.antioxidant.enhanced.apples,.but.a.number.of.consumers.were.
quite. negative. about. the. technology,. for. example,. “I. don't. want. to. eat. wax,”. “it. is.
unnatural,”.“additives.to.fruit.are.not.necessary,”.“washing.apples.removes.the.wax,”.
“prefer.foods.without.additives,”.and.“it.is.better.to.get.nutrients.naturally.”.Hence,.
adding. antioxidants. to. the. wax. of. apples. also. raised. the. dormant. issue. that. fresh.
commercial.apples.are.waxed.
CONCLUSIONS AND PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
More.than.a.decade.has.passed.since.the.irst.GM.foods.appeared.in.U.S..grocery.
stores..Early.attempts.to.market.fresh.horticultural.products,.in.particular,.the.Flavr-
Savr.tomato.and.the.Russet.Burbank.Newleaf.potato.failed.after.very.brief.appear-
ances.in.the.market..Input.traits.developed.by.transgenetic.methods.applied.to.ield.
crops. have. been. much. more. successful,. but. consumers. continue. to. express. some.
resistance.to.them.because.of.environmental,.biodiversity,.or.human.health.concerns..
Recent.developments.of.new.intragenic.GM.methods.are.exciting.because.they.per-
mit.scientists.to.use.diverse.genes.and.attributes.identiied.in.the.genomes.of.particu-
lar.horticultural.plants.to.quickly.enhance.quality.attributes.of.commercial.varieties.
of.crops.like.potato.and.tomato..This.is.very.important.in.potato.breeding,.where.it.
is.impossible.for.scientists.to.dramatically.enhance.conventional.levels.of.vitamin.C.
and.antioxidants.using.a.range.of.conventional.non-GM.breeding.methods..The.new.
intragenic.GM.potato.varieties.enhanced.with.antioxidants.and.vitamin.C.promise.to.
be.the.irst.successful.commercial.GM.product.with.consumer.traits.on.the.market.
Economists'.research.has.shown.that.U.S..consumer.acceptance.and.willingness.
to.pay.for.GM.food.crops.is.not.only.conditioned.by.the.nature.of.the.new.trait.and.
the. method. of. DNA. transfer,. but. also. by. the. content. of. food. labels,. prior. beliefs.
of. consumers,. and. content. of. diverse. information. injected. into. the. food. market.
about.GM.technologies.and.food.products..During.the.era.of.input-trait.dominated.
GM.foods,.consumers.have.revealed.that.GM.food.products.are.weakly.inferior.to.
conventional. products,. which.means.that. marketers. of.GM. food.products. will.not.
label.voluntarily..With.the.commercialization.of.new.intragenic.GM.products.with.
enhanced.consumer.attributes,.these.new.GM.food.products.promise.to.command.a.
premium.relative.to.conventional.food.products..Hence,.the.private.sector's.incentive.
to. voluntarily. label. GM. products. will. change. dramatically.. This. promises. to. be. a.
positive.development.in.the.commercialization.of.GM.food.products.