High school students 'attitudes, opinions and purchase intention on genetically modified organisms: An examination in Eskisehir TOKİ Şehit İkram Cirit Anatolian High School

Since the 1970s, when the first genetic alteration procedures were performed, there have been significant developments in biotechnology. Prolonging the life of products and foods, enriching their contents or eliminating allergic reactions are just a few of these developments. Moreover, with the development of genetic modification methods and techniques, some treatment methods for many diseases have been developed in recent years. However, these developments lead to some discussion. One of these discussion is to not predict the possible effects of such practices on human and environmental health. This has caused people to feel uncomfortable with the using and buying of products and foods based on genetically modified organisms. In this context, it is quite important to examine public opinion and attitudes towards genetically modified organisms. Because these practices are closely related to all individuals in social, moral and economic terms. In this context, in this study, it was aimed to examine the opinions, attitudes and knowledge levels of high school students towards genetically modified organisms and to reveal their intention to purchase them. As the study population, high school students studying at TOKI Sehit Ikram Cirit Anatolian High School in Tepebaşı district of Eskişehir was chosen and stratified random sampling was used. In this study, it was found that high school students had a negative point of view on genetically modified food and organisms. It was also found that the majority of the students considered that such practices were a threat to human and environmental health. Also, their intention to purchase such products differed according to their opinions, attitudes and knowledge levels towards genetically modified foods. In this context, it was recommended that some promotion and training programs should have been carried out to raise public awareness about genetically modified organisms. Keywords: Genetically Modified Organisms, GMO, Transgenetic Products, Intent to Purchase