Why is GMO communication always not on one channel? ——Interpretation of the second interpretation of the Survey of Public Attitudes TowardSS on Genetically Modified Technologies
May 18, 2016 at 07:54 | Source: Science and Technology Daily
Original title: Why is GMO communication always not on a channel?
Reporter Ma Aiping
"Although GMOs are only more than 30 years old, they have experienced too many tribulations and have been distorted by various rumors and slanders." Yuan Yue, a special writer of Sanlian Life Weekly, has been focusing on this field since 2007 and has written more than a dozen special reports and analysis articles.
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At present, no science and technology in China may have attracted as much attention and controversy as genetically modified organisms, and no scientific problem will become so complex and sensitive due to the incorporation of many factors such as political economy, social culture, etc., so that public opinion is often swayed and chaotic. Why does GMO science communication become so difficult?
Little is known about GMOs
In the "Survey of Public Attitudes Toward Transgenic Technology" organized by Science and Technology Daily and the China Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy, only 9.1% of the public who have heard of "genetically modified organisms" think that they know "very much" or "more" about GMOs, 47.5% think they are "relatively little", 24.9% are "very little", and 18.4% are "completely absent". Even among the most educated "college degree" population, only 17.7% think they know "a lot" or "more" about genetically modified organisms.
"Opposition to GMOs needs a reason. Ordinary people lack professional knowledge and can only turn their attention to a minority opinion leader. As a result, some organizations and a small number of experts and scholars have stepped forward as opinion leaders, questioning the service targets and service efficiency of GM agriculture, claiming that GM technology is a tool for large companies to make money, and its potential harm is not yet known. Yuan Yue recently wrote a book called "Artificial Panic" through field visits and interviews with experts.
Artificial Panic: A Global Field Trip to Genetically Modified Organisms
Even through the formal media, the scientific dissemination of GMOs has become an urgent problem to be solved.
"The axe-wielding of individual media celebrities has in fact fueled the popularity of rumors and the kidnapping of the public. The popularity of rumors has affected the government's scientific decision-making, depriving the country of the opportunity to seize the international commanding heights of biotechnology research and development. Hu Ruifa, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, believes that the situation of transgenic science dissemination is not optimistic.
"I recently did a questionnaire survey for the media, most of them have reported on GMOs, and support the commercialization of GMOs, there are only 5 exam questions, only 10% of the people who get full marks, 80% of people do not know much about GMO knowledge, it is recommended that the media should do their homework when reporting." Hu Ruifa said.
Popular science is always not in place
"The most familiar with this industry are the practitioners of seed companies, or scientists of scientific research institutes, but in order to speak rigorously, many experts have become more and more obscure, and it is difficult for ordinary people to understand what they are saying, and many employees of many companies have conflicts of interest and dare not tell the truth." In fact, I don't dare to speak in a formal article, but I can say something sincere in my personal blog. Yuan Yue said.
"I often read all kinds of rumors about GMOs on WeChat, but scientists and scientific groups have been slow to react to them." He Zuhua, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.
It is understood that at present, in terms of genetic modification, China still lacks planned, targeted and sustainable science popularization, and the relevant work is mostly in a spontaneous and decentralized state, slow and weak, small coverage, and no long-term planning.
The Internet became a hub for rumors
In this survey, the Internet is the most important channel for the public to obtain genetically modified knowledge and information, and its influence exceeds that of traditional media such as television. More people obtain genetically modified information through traditional media such as television than through the Internet, and 75.6% of the public have obtained knowledge and information related to genetic modification through traditional media such as television and newspapers, and more than the public who have obtained relevant information through the Internet (68.5%). However, the public with the Internet as the most important channel is far more than the public with traditional media such as television as the most important channel. 52.2% of the public replied that the Internet is the most important channel for obtaining genetically modified information on their own, much higher than the public with television and newspapers as the most important channel (26.3%).
"The emergence of new media has weakened the agenda setting function unique to the news media in the past, and different social organizations and individuals can also participate in the agenda setting, and there is a serious differentiation between the official public opinion field and the civil public opinion field today." This is an indisputable fact. Tu Guangjin, a professor at the School of Journalism at Chinese Min University, said that on the Internet, everyone is anonymous, and no one knows who the rumor-mongers are, so they will find that some very extreme theories will have a market on the Internet, and the Internet has become an important distribution center for some emotions and opinions.
Establishing a platform for rational discussion has become a top priority
In this survey, distrust of the regulatory authorities and the scientific community is an important reason for the public's lack of support for GMOs. On the issue of GM, scientists are the most trusted group of the public compared with other institutions or groups, but their credibility has also been greatly weakened: 38.4% and 46.6% of respondents, respectively, said that they do not trust scientists in universities and enterprises on the issue of GM. Mistrust of government officials is more pronounced.
"When necessary, press conferences, press briefings, press briefings, etc., contact the media to provide real information, and now experts have new media platforms in their own fields, whether it is official websites or official microblogs and public accounts, which have important weight today." Tu Guangjin believes that government officials and scientists should "speak up" when necessary.
"According to our retrospective research in the domestic media, all transgenic scientists who published GM safety and related popular science views have been personally attacked. In this public opinion environment, most scientists in the professional field engaged in transgenic research have chosen silence, while the sensational rumors created by foreign forces and various domestic reversals have become the mainstream of public opinion on GMO safety. To this end, it has become a top priority to create a scientific and rational discussion of genetically modified public opinion environment. Hu Ruifa said.
Hu Ruifa said that at present, the domestic media platforms such as the Internet on the safety of genetically modified organisms are basically self-talk, that is, those who support or oppose GMOs have their own platforms, and lack a platform that allows GMos to fully express their views and show their scientific basis. The study found that when the public is affected by rumors, the most effective measure to make the public change their wrong views is to provide them with relevant scientific evidence. To this end, he suggested that a platform for rational discussion on the safety of genetic modification should be established, on which all professionals and non-professionals who express views on the safety of genetically modified organisms should display their scientific evidence; at the same time, those who hold opposing views should be encouraged to present and publish their rebuttal evidence; and measures should be taken to combat various personal attacks and make it a real scientific and rational discussion space.
(Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, May 17)
(Editor-in-charge: Ma Li, Zhao Zhuqing)
appendix:
Ministry of Agriculture: Rational view of GMOs Rational selection of GM products
As long as the mention of genetic modification will touch the sensitive nerves of the Chinese people. Whoever wants to say a few words for the GMO will be exaggerated and hyped, and even incur insults and personal attacks. In such a public awareness environment and public opinion environment, the development and application of transgenic technology in the mainland is facing huge resistance.
Anyone with a modicum of genetic and breeding knows that any new species is the result of genetic transfer (scientific name "hybridization") recombination between species or genetic variation of species, and that this phenomenon occurs all the time on Earth. Gene transfer and recombination in nature is the basis for genetic variation and species evolution. It is precisely because of this that there are a variety of strange species, there is a kaleidoscopic nature, and there is a colorful and happy life for human beings. Gene transfer between species can be divided into natural transfer and artificial transfer. The so-called natural transfer is natural selection, self-destruction. Until there was no theory of evolution and genetic breeding, species on Earth maintained this state of natural selection that was self-extinct. With the continuous improvement of people's cognitive ability and the continuous progress of science and technology, it is found that the genetic traits of species are mainly determined by genes, that is to say, the characteristics of species that we directly feel are actually the external manifestations of genetic genes. At the same time, it was found that gene transfer between species can be artificially intervened, and the mutation of species genes can also be artificially interfered with. Based on the above cognitive basis, hybrid breeding, genetic engineering (referred to as "transgenic") breeding, mutagenic breeding (including physical mutagenesis and chemical mutagenesis, space breeding, radiation breeding are of this category) technology came into being. This is the greatest discovery of human understanding of nature and has made a major contribution to promoting the progress of human civilization.
It can be seen that whether it is cross-breeding or transgenic engineered breeding, it is essentially through artificial gene transfer and recombination between species to produce new species, which are genetically modified breeding. The main difference is that crossbreeding is based on pre-determined breeding goals, artificially selecting different varieties to be combined, in the natural state through plant pollen or animal semen and other transmission routes to achieve gene transfer and recombination between different varieties, and then artificially screening out new varieties that meet the expected breeding goals. For example, to breed a new wheat variety that is both high-yielding and resistant to stripe rust, it is necessary to hybridize the wheat variety with the hereditary trait of stripe rust resistance with the wheat variety with the genetic trait of stripe rust resistance, and then repeatedly select it in its hybrid offspring to obtain a new variety of high-yield stripe rust resistance. But the process is quite long, often taking years or even decades to complete, which is why breeders can only breed a few new varieties in their lifetime, not even a new one. A typical example is hybrid rice, which almost poured into the lifelong efforts of Yuan Longping breeders. The main disadvantages of hybrid breeding are: one is the long breeding cycle; the other is that it has a great deal of contingency. Because it is not known whether the target gene can be successfully transferred, nor does it know whether the genetic traits of the target gene can be expressed after the transfer, and at the same time, it is also faced with the embarrassment of simultaneous transfer of other genes (hitchhiking) (that is, the non-target gene is transferred with the target gene). Therefore, whether hybridization can produce new varieties of the expected target is quite uncertain; third, how much gene transfer occurs between varieties is uncontrollable and unknown. Because, there are still many unsolved mysteries about how many genes are contained in some varieties. Moreover, cross-breeding alone can no longer meet the needs of rapid growth in global food consumption.
Transgenic engineered breeding technology is an advanced breeding technology based on hybrid breeding technology. Its main principle is: to determine the specific genetic attributes of a variety of target genes to mark and screen out, through a certain technical processing and technology (microinjection, gene gun, etc.) means and then transferred to another variety, and so that the specific genetic attributes of the transgenic in the transfer of the variety to show, to achieve genetic recombination to breed the target new varieties. The main advantages of transgenic engineered breeding are: first, the breeding cycle is greatly shortened; second, the target gene has achieved qualitative directional transfer and is completely controllable; third, the transferred gene is very clear and can prevent the risks caused by unknown gene transfer. Therefore, theoretically, transgenic engineering breeding technology is more advanced and safer than hybrid breeding technology. Because transgenic technology can break the isolation between species and realize gene transfer between species, although this gene transfer between species also exists in nature, but the international, including the mainland special legislation to manage it, through the transgenic engineering breeding technology to cultivate new varieties to be truly used in commercial production, must undergo strict food safety evaluation and environmental safety evaluation. Therefore, the public should not panic, and must not be fooled by some unscientific demonization of GMOs and hear the "base" discoloration. If you use a more popular word: transgenic engineering breeding is to transfer what genes are needed, and hybrid breeding is to transfer what genes are what genes.
People's fear of GM and the questioning of GM food safety are more subjective reflections on quality and safety risks due to the negative publicity of GMO safety in all aspects. The mainland debate on the unsafe safety of genetically modified food has never stopped. However, the safety of genetically modified foods is conclusive, that is, all genetically modified foods that have passed the genetically modified safety evaluation and obtained safety certificates have entered the market. In fact, the development speed of transgenic engineering breeding technology has exceeded our imagination, and the commercial promotion and application of new varieties of transgenic varieties is even more rapid. In the United States, in the world's developed economies such as the European Union and developing countries such as Brazil and Argentina, although there are also different voices about GMOs, the public has generally accepted GM foods, especially in the United States, which contain GM foods everywhere (online rumors: Americans do not eat GM foods is pure nonsense). Don't Americans value their lives? Does the U.S. government treat people like guinea pigs? Objectively speaking, we have actively or passively accepted GMOs, and even cannot do without GMOs. Even if you hate GMOs, hate GMOs, or reject GMOs, if you travel abroad or study in the United States, you can't survive without eating GM foods, because pure non-GMO foods are rare in the United States. Similarly, most of the raw materials for soybean oil consumed on the mainland are genetically modified soybeans. When you go to restaurants and eat foreign fast food, you will be exposed to foods containing genetically modified organisms. Therefore, we must rationally look at GMOs and rationally choose GM products.
Deng Zhixi
In today's world, the development of science and technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and the ability of human beings to control risks is increasing day by day, so we must understand and believe in science. Don't let GMO fear affect our confidence, affect our emotions, and affect our lives. The breeding technology of genetically modified engineering led by the United States has led the world, and if we are still arguing all day long, not catching up and narrowing the gap, we will bring us industrial security and food security problems. What will happen is that the market is handed over to us because of our lack of development. Of course, relatively speaking, transgenic technology is a new thing after all, public perception must also have a process, the top priority is to accelerate the popularization of GMO knowledge, dispel the public's fear and doubt about GMO, and require the joint efforts of all parties. The second is to expand the popularization of genetically modified knowledge and use various communication channels and means to let the public understand the common sense of genetic modification. The third is to give full play to the role of scientists in the popularization of science. The most vocal voice on GMOs is scientists, and the public needs authoritative releases from experts. The fourth is media responsibility. Seeking truth from facts, disseminating information objectively and fairly, and exposing rumors and lies are the responsibilities of the media and the code of conduct of the media. Fifth, strictly strengthen the management of the development and application of transgenic technology. Carry out transgenic research and development in accordance with the law, strengthen the safety management of transgenics, and minimize potential risks.
(Author Deng Zhixi, Deputy Director of the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture)
link:
http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2013-07/16/content_2449085.htm