Consumer's Attitude toward Transgenic Organisms and Biosafety Especially in Plants in Ardebil Province

To develop genetically modified organisms in different societies it is necessary to evaluate the public views about genetically modified organisms. So in this research public attitude towards genetically modified organisms and biosafety was evaluated in Ardebil Province in April 2009. This research was done using questionnaires containing 39 questions on the 250 people of Ardebil. According to the results only a few participants didn’t know anything about genetically modified organisms. Most of people agreed with the producing and consuming of these organisms and they believed this is necessary to use them in agriculture. Near to 92% of people agreed with the producing of transgenic plants and 72% agreed with transgenic animals. The knowledge of participants in biosafety was more than our estimate. Close to 85% of people were not familiar with regulatory procedures of prereleasing and pre-commercialization of genetically modified organisms. According to these results, we conclude that public perception of Ardebil about genetically modified organisms were positive recommend that with increasing the knowledge of people about these organisms the acceptance will be further improved.