The following poll was conducted by Gallup in September, 1999. As with many polls, there is a clear pro-corporate bias to the manner in which the question is phrased. The emphasis is clearly placed on the food costing more if they are to be labled as being genetically modified. Depite this obvious tactic to bring the numbers down, a full 68% still supported the right to know.

Survey Methods

The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,039 adults, 18 years and older, conducted September 23-26, 1999. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Some people say that all food should be labeled by the manufacturer to indicate whether the food contains products which have been produced using biotechnology. However, such labeling would require special handling that would raise the price of food. Would you, personally, be willing to pay more for your food in order to have new labels that would indicate the presence of foods produced using biotechnology?

       Yes                68%
       No                 29%
       DEPENDS (vol.)      1%
       No opinion          2%