The effect of public perception to the acceptance of biotechnology in Finland and Poland was tested.For research the student of hight schools were selected.In the study the following aspects were included: social background; believing in God; knowledge of biology;perception genetechnology towards humans animals and food.
Surveys of public perception of biotechnology were conducted in Poland, similarly as Eurobarometer in EU, in 1996, 1999, 2001 and January 2003. We have observed on increase of scepticism of Polish society in acceptance of biotechnology and biotechnology products. The majority of Poles expect the supervision of state administration and strict law regulations, similarly as in EU. In comparison to the year 2000, the support for biotechnology products has decreased in about 20%. The public wants solid information and transparence system. The knowledge of basic facts related to molecular biology is relatively high. The most wanted is capacity building program.
600 students (aged 16-years) of colleges of city of Lodz were surveyed about biotechnology. The students represent higher knowledge of modern biotechnology than average either in Poland or in European Union.
Continuing our research on public perception of modern biotechnology in Poland this time we surveyed the knowledge of modern biotechnology between Poles. The representative sample of Polish society (over 1000 Poles aged over 15 years) answered questions like: did you eat genes for breakfast?, are genes in tomato?, is BSE a product of genetic engineering? We found surprisingly good familiarity (awareness) of background biotechnology. Over 40% of Poles know that all tomatoes contain genes, over 20% eat genes for breakfast and one third know that BSE is not a result of genetic engineering.