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This article has been retracted

Science 16 July 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5426, pp. 384 - 387
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5426.384
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Review

Worlds Apart? The Reception of Genetically Modified Foods in Europe and the U.S.

George Gaskell, 1* Martin W. Bauer, 2 John Durant, 3 Nicholas C. Allum 1

Recent controversies about genetically modified foods in the United Kingdom and several other European countries highlight the apparent differences that exist in public opinion on this subject across the Atlantic. Why are people in the United States seemingly untroubled by a technology that causes Europeans so many difficulties? The results of survey research on public perceptions of biotechnology in Europe and the United States during 1996-1997, together with an analysis of press coverage and policy formation from 1984 to 1996, can help to answer this question.

1 Methodology Institute,
2 Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE, UK.
3 The Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: G.Gaskell{at}lse.ac.uk

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