Public Perceptions of Biotechnology in South Africa

Biotechnology offers great opportunities for sustainable human development and economic growth. However, biotechnology faces several challenges in the public sphere. The public have mixed perceptions of what biotechnology is, how it is governed, how knowledge is produced, and how the benefits are distributed and accrued. In order to inform policy in the sector, the Public Understanding of Biotechnology programme of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement commissioned a national survey of the South African public’s perceptions of biotechnology. This included perceptions of agricultural biotechnology, medical biotechnology, and indigenous biotechnology knowledge. The results of this study provide indications of what the public know about biotechnology, how the public feel about a range of biotechnology-related issues, how the public access information about biotechnology, and the manner in which the public perceive biotechnology-related products. This publication offers new insights into the position of biotechnology in the public imagination, and how the institutions of science and the public sector may better engage with the public in a constructive manner.

www.saasta.ac.za www.pub.ac.za

Public Perceptions of

Biotechnology in

South Africa

Conducted for the Public Understanding of Biotechnology Programme of the South African Agency for

Science and Technology Advancement

Michael Gastrow* Ben Roberts Vijay Reddy

Shameelah Ismail

Education and Skills Development Research Programme Human Sciences Research Council

*mgastrow@hsrc.ac.za

FINAL REPORT SUBMITTED 30TH APRIL 2016

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background Biotechnology is widely seen as one of the critical domains of science and technology for the twenty- first century. It has a growing role, and further enormous potential, in the development and production of new classes of medicine, food, energy, and industrial processes. These areas all offer great opportunities for sustainable human development and economic growth. However, despite this recognition, biotechnology faces several challenges in the public sphere. Firstly, it is an esoteric area of knowledge. The public have a limited understanding of what biotechnology is, how it is governed, how knowledge is produced, and how the benefits are distributed and accrued. This provides fertile ground for reservations about biotechnology’s ethical, health, and environmental implications. When the basic structures of living organisms are seen to be interfered with, questions are raised about religion and morality.

The public therefore has attitudes of both promise and reservation about biotechnology. These are well documented by extensive surveys, primarily in Europe and the USA. In some cases, reservations have had material impacts on biotechnology markets, for example the significantly reduced size and scope of the market for GM crops in Europe. Understanding public perceptions of biotechnology is therefore critical for informing national-level policy in the sector. However, relatively little research in this area has been conducted in South Africa.

The Public Understanding of Biotechnology (PUB) programme of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) has therefore commissioned a research project to undertake a national survey of the South African public’s perceptions of biotechnology. This includes perceptions of biotechnology in general, and of specific applications in the fields of food production, medicine, and indigenous knowledge systems. The scope includes knowledge about biotechnology, attitudes towards biotechnology, the use of biotechnology in daily life, sources of information about biotechnology, and perceptions about the governance of biotechnology. The overarching aim of the project is to provide data and analysis that will inform evidence-based policies and strategies

related to biotechnology, particularly in terms of public engagement and communication strategies.

Biotechnology, in its broad sense, refers to any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use (US Convention on Biological Diversity, http:// www.cbd.int/). In this sense, biotechnology has been evolving along with human civilisation for thousands of years, and is deeply embedded in the indigenous knowledge systems of all cultures. In its contemporary usage, biotechnology is often referred to as specifically related to applications of technologies for manipulating DNA. This usage frames biotechnology as an inherently high-technology and knowledge- intensive activity, closely tied to advanced biological sciences. The juxtaposition between these two usages is particularly evident in South Africa, where indigenous knowledge systems harbour extensive knowledge related to using biological systems, while at the same time genetically modified organisms are commonly produced through commercial agriculture. Research into the public understanding of biotechnology in South Africa needs to encompass this diverse system, and policy interventions should utilise this diversity as a strength.

Public perceptions of biotechnology are commonly studied within the broad theoretical ambit of the ‘public understanding of science’. In the South African context, a key source of knowledge about biotechnology and public attitudes is a report which was prepared for the PUB programme on the South African public’s perceptions of biotechnology (Rule and Langa, 2004). At the global level, the literature on public perceptions of biotechnology is largely focused on the European public, supported by a number of Eurobarometer studies. This provides a firm foundation for establishing international comparability for the study in relation to developed countries. There is also a smaller body of literature on the public understanding of biotechnology in developing countries. However, none of these are based on nationally representative samples assessing public opinion, and are instead based on stakeholder interviews. As such, they are not directly comparable to the present study.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii

Methodology A survey questionnaire was designed in order to include some questions that are internationally comparable, some that are comparable to 2004 South African data, and some that are customised to provide intelligence according to the current requirements of the PUB programme and the SAASTA. The survey was administered through the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) in November 2015. This rendered a final sample of 2940 adult South Africans. The results provide nationally representative data for the South African adult population.

Key findings

International comparison

There are no nationally representative studies of public perceptions of biotechnology from other developing countries – extant studies are all stakeholder studies with small samples. This means that international comparisons can only be made with developed country studies, in this case Europe, the US, and Australia. The results clearly show that the South African public can be broadly described as ‘less informed, but more positive’ about biotechnology, and specifically GM food (which forms the focus of most international studies). South Africans are more than twice as likely as Europeans to believe that GM food is safe to eat, and are also significantly more likely to see GM foods as good for the economy (53% compared to 31%). South Africans are also less likely to see the environmental impact of GM food productions as being higher than conventional farming (42% compared to 52%). However, for each of these questions, South Africans were also more likely to reply with a ‘don’t know’ response, indicating that these generally positive attitudes are formed in a social context that is generally less informed. This supports the thesis that being more informed about biotechnology does not necessarily lead to the formation of positive attitudes. Rather, increased informedness results in greater engagement with the topic and the formation of more clearly defined attitudes. In Europe, these attitudes have tended to be more critical.

It thus appears that the level of knowledge required to meaningfully engage with questions of GM food safety, economic impact, and environmental impact, are lower in South Africa than in developed countries. However, South Africans do have some basic knowledge of GM foods that is at a level that is roughly comparable to a developed country. For

example, roughly the same proportions of South Africans and Australians are aware of the country’s primary GM crop. 41% of Australians were aware of the farming of GM canola, and 40% of South Africans were aware of the farming of GM maize (see Table 17). Public awareness of the country’s secondary GM crop was also similar (9% in Australia, and 7% in South Africa). From these findings we can hypothesise that the South African public’s basic knowledge about GM crops is similar to that of a developed country, even though the level of more advanced knowledge might be lower.

Changes over time: 2004 – 2015 A review of changes in public perceptions of biotechnology between 2004 and 2015 shows, overall, a major increase in public awareness of biotechnology, and a major increase in attitudes that favour the purchasing of GM food (Table 54). Public fami