Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour50
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Additionally, we made a business plan, with which we present a possible final product idea. And last but | Additionally, we made a business plan, with which we present a possible final product idea. And last but | ||
not least we made a video adventure that is both entertaining and educational. Try it out, and learn more | not least we made a video adventure that is both entertaining and educational. Try it out, and learn more | ||
- | about bacteria and GMOs.<br><br> | + | about bacteria and GMOs <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:SDU-Denmark/Tour55">here.</a><br><br> |
</p> | </p> | ||
Revision as of 07:50, 17 October 2014
Policy and practices
Policy and practices has been a major part of our project. Edible coli has many ethical issues and we wanted
to emphasize the GMO legislation, as well as get a better knowledge about the general opinion of eating
bacteria. To obtain this, we spend much time on outreach, by making a questionnaire, presenting our
project at relevant events, publishing an article in the university newspaper and arranging a Microorganism
Quiz night.
To get an even deeper and completely comprehensive discussion, one of our team members traveled to
Ghana and interviewed two scientists with expert knowledge about nutrition in Ghana.
Additionally, we made a business plan, with which we present a possible final product idea. And last but
not least we made a video adventure that is both entertaining and educational. Try it out, and learn more
about bacteria and GMOs here.
Questionaire
In the mid summer we created a questionnaire, which was accessible for 2 month. It was meant to be
answered only by people connected to a University, as we think that those people have an educational
background that allows them to rule on various issues.
The questionnaire was supposed to give us a better idea of how much people know about GMO and what
their opinion is about these organisms, as well as to get to know if people see any problems by eating
bacteria.
The questionnaire was answered by 271 people from Denmark, United Kingdom, Ghana, Singapore and
Argentina. Most of the surveyed were between 19-25 years old and most of them had a natural science or
health science as field of study.
To see all received data, click here. To see the questionnaire, click here.
Denmark
We received 152 answers from people living in Denmark.
We received very different answers to the question: Could GMO help reduce malnutrition in your country? Many of the surveyed pointed out, that they don’t think, that there is a problem with malnourishment in Denmark, which might explain, why the answers Maybe and I don’t think so were mostly chosen.
United Kingdom
We received 22 answers from people living in United Kingdom.
Ghana
We received 36 answers from people living in Ghana.
Argentina
We received 49 answers from people living in Argentina.
The surveyed from Argentina also reached the highest percentage of yes to the question, if GMO could help reduce malnutrition in Argentina. 26.5% answered yes, and 44.9% answered maybe. Only 4.1% answered no, compared with respectively 10.5%, 9.1% and 11.1% in Denmark, United Kingdom and Ghana. The data tend to that people in Argentina are very open-minded against GMO as a help to reduce malnutrition.
Conclusion
The questionnaire showed us that most people, contrary to our expectations, are very open-minded
against GMO as a food source and to the use of GMO against malnourishment. Furthermore the data
showed us, that most people with connection to a university have heard about GMO before, but a higher
percentage in Europe compared with Africa and Latin America. We have thought about that this is due to,
that people in Europe are accustomed to be critical against all unknown and unidentified.
Regarding to the question: Would you eat a bacteria, that could provide the optimal quantity of nutrition
you need?, we wondered if all surveyed were aware of the fact that a nourishing bacteria does not exist,
and it requires genetically modification to create one.
Unfortunately we received no clear tendency with the question: Could GMO help reduce malnutrition in
your country? The answers of the individual surveyed were very different, but we could conclude that
more people from Ghana and Argentina see a potential of GMO as a help against malnourishment in their
countries. But as mentioned above, some surveyed pointed out, that they don’t see any problem with
malnourishment in Denmark, which is why they answered no to the question above.