Do People Agree with the Genetic Modification of Organisms in the East Azarbayjan Province?

To develop genetically modified organisms in different societies it necessary to evaluate the public views in this regard. So in this research, public attitude towards genetically modified organisms and biosafety was evaluated in the East Azarbayjan province in April 2009. This research was conducted using questionnaires containing 39 questions on the 250 people from the East Azarbayjan. Our results show that many 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 %90 of people agreed with the producing of transgenic plants and %76 agreed with transgenic animals. The knowledge of participants in biosafety was less than our estimation. Close to %85 of people were not familiar with regulatory systems for genetically modified organisms. According to these results, we conclude that public perception of the East Azarbayjan about genetically modified organisms were positive and with increasing the knowledge of people about these organisms it is possible to eliminate the present ambiguities and doubts about this issue.