More than a quarter of a billion people across the globe could have been exposed to misinformation surrounding genetically modified crops and foods, according to a study by Alliance for Science at the Boyce Thompson Institute in partnership with Cision Media.
The study investigated top English-language media throughout a two-year span, with stories published between January 2019 and January 2021. Each article was assessed for misinformation — statements that contradicted the scientific consensus for the safety of genetic engineering.
Research found that 47 of the 535 articles with GMO-related keywords consisted of misinformation.
This issue is particularly large in Africa. The study discovered that one-fifth of media coverage on genetically modified foods included misinformation, while media coverage in North America contained 5% and Europe had 7% when it came to false information.
In addition to regional tags, the study also conducted a sentiment analysis on the articles. Despite the majority of articles being categorized as ‘neutral,’ a large portion of the misinformation was determined to be a ‘negative’ tone. No articles analyzed with misinformation had a positive tone towards GMOs.
“Our results show that misinformation about GMOs is still a huge problem, and that hundreds of millions of people are being given false information that contradicts the scientific consensus on the safety of genetic engineering,” said Mark Lynas, lead author of the study and climate and...
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