Grocers say resistance to engineered food minimal
From AP (May 9th)

   Europeans and Japanese don't want gene-altered crops. Frito-Lay,
McDonald's and Gerber have rejected them, too. But grocers say American
consumers don't seem to care one way or the other—at least not yet.
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   However, support for crops that produce genetically engineered food is
slipping, even if a majority of consumers still back the technology,
according to a poll released at the supermarket industry's annual convention,
which opened Sunday.
   Sixty-three percent of shoppers surveyed in January said they would be
very or somewhat likely to buy a new variety of produce that had been
genetically engineered to resist insect damage. That's down from 77 percent
in a similar poll four years ago.
   Fifty-four percent said in January they were very or somewhat likely to
buy produce that was modified to taste better or stay fresh longer, compared
with 58 percent in 1996. The new survey, conducted by Research International
USA for the Food Marketing Institute, had a margin of error of plus or minus
three percentage points.
   A summary of the poll's finding said "consumers are less inclined to
purchase these products" than they were in 1996.
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   Most people don't realize how widely used these so-called biotech
ingredients have become, said Thomas Hoban, a North Carolina State University
sociologist who tracks consumer attitudes about food. Nearly 4 in 10
questioned in the January poll said they had heard nothing about biotech food.
   In Europe, "not only has the support for food and agricultural
biotechnology gone down but also support for medical biotechnology...The U.S.
is maybe overly positive. It will swing down, maybe," Hoban said.
   Consumers who don't want to eat biotech food are expected to provide a
boost to the $6 billion-a-year organic industry.