Are U.S. Consumers Tolerant of GM Foods?

Matthew C Rousu (), Wallace Huffman, Jason Shogren () and Abebayehu Tegene

Staff General Research Papers from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Genetically modified (GM) foods have caused many controversies. One important controversy relates to tolerance?the impurity rate that is tolerated before a commodity must be labeled as genetically modified. Currently, the United States does not have a specific tolerance or threshold level for GM foods. This paper uses experimental auctions to determine consumers? acceptance of non-GM foods with zero, 1 percent, and 5 percent tolerance for genetically modified material. Our results indicate that consumers would pay less for food that tolerates GM material, but the discount is not significantly different for foods with 1-percent and 5-percent GM content. Key words: genetically modified (GM) foods, contamination thresholds, laboratory auctions, nth-price auction, vegetable oil, tortilla chips, russet potatoes

Date: 2002-10-30
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Related works:
Working Paper: ARE US CONSUMERS TOLERANT OF GM FOODS? (2002)
Working Paper: Are U.S. Consumers Tolerant of GM Foods? (2005)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:10050

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