Journal of Biotechnology 98 (2002) 9 – 24 Attitudes toward biotechnology in the European Union Rafael Pardo a, *, Cees Midden b , Jon D. Miller c a Fundacion BBVA, Principe de Vergara 51, 28006 Madrid, Spain b Department of Human Technique Interaction, Eindhoen Uniersity of Technology, Eindhoen, NB, The Netherlands c Director of the Center for Biomedical Communications, Northwestern Uniersity, Chicago, IL, USA Received 11 July 2001; received in revised form 13 February 2002; accepted 6 March 2002 Abstract Public attitudes toward biotechnology in the European Union have been characterized as negative using Euro- barometer data, but so far little attention has been paid to building a robust metric appropriate for emerging public opinion issues which combine high salience with very limited knowledge by the public. On the basis of the general literature about the formation and structure of attitudes and about public perceptions of science, this article presents a new metric and analysis: first, for estimating the level of awareness and knowledge of biotechnology in Europe; second, for assessing the stability and depth of these evaluative perceptions; and third, for exploring the roles of canonical socio-demographic variables, the knowledge variable and general attitudinal schemas for understanding the perceptions of both benefits and risks of biotech applications. The results show the importance of general value orientations or ‘‘worldviews’’ in shaping positive attitudes, and more of these general cognitive schemas should be measured in future research. The same multivariate model was unable to account for a significant percentage of the total variance in the perception of risks, suggesting that new measures are needed to tap this critical area in the acceptance of biotech in Europe. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Biotechnology; Public attitudes; Risk and benefits www.elsevier.com/locate/jbiotec 1. Introduction Biotechnology applications have been the ob- ject of considerable debate in most European countries in the past decade, capturing the atten- tion of policy-makers, interest groups (farmers, consumer groups), environmental organizations, the media, and, in some countries, religious orga- nizations as well. The mutually reinforcing loop of media coverage and protest actions by orga- nized groups have kept this technology alive in public opinion and have given it a heightened level of salience. Observers have pointed out the strikingly different reception of biotechnology ap- plications in the US and Europe—for the most part positive in the US, ambivalent or critical in many European countries — and the potential eco- nomic consequences of this difference, particularly in the areas of food and agriculture. A financial journal reported on this opposition 6 years ago, foregrounding the negative role played by public * Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-91-374-8959; fax: +34- 91-374-8930. E-mail address: rpardo@fbbva.es (R. Pardo). 0168-1656/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0168-1656(02)00082-2