A. Maney et E. Plutzer, SCIENTIFIC-INFORMATION, ELITE ATTITUDES, AND THE PUBLIC DEBATE OVER FOOD SAFETY, Policy studies journal, 24(1), 1996, pp. 42-56
Why do consumers often react with alarm to food technologies (such as
irradiation, genetic engineering, artificial hormones, and chemical pe
sticides) that scientists regard as essentially safe? We examine the a
ttitudes toward food safety of three types of elites who serve as prov
iders of scientific information regarding food safety to the United St
ates public. Previous research suggests that journalists are likely to
exaggerate risks associated with natural pathogens. This bias is hypo
thesized to be political in origin. By and large, our sample of newspa
per editors was only slightly more concerned than were United States g
overnment policymakers and a sample of scientists. The expected patter
n of alarm occurs clearly only in the case of irradiation. In addition
, modest correlations of ideology to safety assessments were found for
all three types of elites.