SCIENTIFIC-INFORMATION, ELITE ATTITUDES, AND THE PUBLIC DEBATE OVER FOOD SAFETY

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.