Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2021 Jun 9;16(6):e0252580. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252580. eCollection 2021.
The use of agro-biotechnology has raised consumer concerns about environmental, health, socio-economic and ethical risks. This study examines how regulatory policies regarding genetically modified (GM) food production affect consumers' cognitive information processing, in terms of perceived risk, self-control, and risk responsibility. There is further analysis of whether the effect of policy design is moderated by risk type. Data was generated in a field experiment (n = 547), including four different policy scenario treatments (banned, research and development, import, and full commercialization). The results reveal that policy scenarios where GM food is available on the market are associated with higher levels of perceived risk and lower levels of self-control compared with policies where GM food is banned. There was no evidence of policy scenarios affecting consumer willingness to assign personal risk responsibility. However, among participants who indicated health risks as their main concern, there was an effect from the policy scenario on self-risk responsibility as mediated through perceived risk and self-control. The results suggest that health-conscious consumers tend to attribute less responsibility to themselves in situations where a genetically modified product was commercialized. These findings indicate a need to clarify guideline recommendations for health-related risks associated with foods derived from biotechnology.
农业生物技术的应用引起了消费者对环境、健康、社会经济和伦理风险的关注。本研究探讨了关于转基因（GM）食品生产的监管政策如何影响消费者对感知风险、自我控制和风险责任的认知信息处理。进一步分析了政策设计的效果是否受到风险类型的调节。数据是在现场实验（n=547）中生成的，包括四种不同的政策情景处理（禁止、研发、进口和全面商业化）。结果表明，与禁止转基因食品的政策相比，市场上有转基因食品的政策情景与更高的感知风险和更低的自我控制水平相关。没有证据表明政策情景会影响消费者承担个人风险责任的意愿。然而，在将健康风险作为主要关注点的参与者中，政策情景通过感知风险和自我控制对自我风险责任产生了影响。结果表明，在商业化的转基因产品情况下，关注健康的消费者往往会减少对自己的责任。这些发现表明，需要澄清与生物技术衍生食品相关的健康风险的准则建议。
