Consumer attitudes to the use of two dairy technologies Available to Purchase

The aim of this postal survey (n = 5,000 : 19.3 per cent response) was to evaluate attitudes to two dairy technologies, bovine somatotrophin (bST) and automatic milking systems (AMS), as part of a wider study of the role of ethical analysis in technology assessment. The survey indicated that awareness of the technologies was associated with the respondents’ attitudes in contrasting ways. Thus, those with greater awareness of bST considered it was less acceptable (p<0.05) while those with more awareness of AMS had more positive attitudes towards it (p<0.05). The use of bST was considered to be “ethically acceptable” by only 9.1 per cent of respondents, and 59.7 per cent believed bST should not be licensed for use in the EU, whereas 38.3 per cent considered AMS use to be “ethically acceptable”. Respondents also identified labelling and animal welfare as important issues. Thus, respondents differentiated between “acceptable or unacceptable” aspects of the technologies rather than simply expressing general attitudes to biotechnologies.