The public is deeply suspicious about biotechnology as applied to designer foods, but people accept the technology if it is applied to food safety, according to a Science Week poll issued by Forfas.
The public also showed an inclination to support research and technical advances when applied to improved health, according to the survey of 1,200 adults by a research company, Behaviour and Attitudes.
People rated as important breakthroughs which improved the quality of life or helped save lives, according to Mr Colm Regan, chairman of the Science, Technology and Innovation Awareness Group within Forfas.
Cancer research ranked highest at 59 per cent when respondents were asked to list the important areas where people would benefit most from technology. Transplant surgery ranked second with 11 per cent and biotechnology leading to food safety at 7 per cent.
Other uses of the genetic technologies rated very low among respondents. Only 1 per cent ranked biotechnology leading to designer babies as important.
The public ranked the development of antibiotics, transplant surgery and keyhole surgery as the top three discoveries bringing benefit to mankind this century, followed by the motor car, television, radio and the fridge in that order.
Of the 19 advances listed by respondents, the last three in descending order were mobile phones, the dishwasher and the impotence drug, Viagra.
These findings, Mr Regan said, showed that the public would "support greater investment in research and development in the health sector on the condition that it is prioritised in certain areas".
Surfing the Internet for food-related information can be fraught with problems as information may not be reliable, whether it is to do with health or food safety, said Dr Maria Harrington of UCC's food faculty.
At a Science Week lecture last night, she pointed the public to sites they can be confident about when undertaking searches. They are listed as useful links on the UCC Website at www.ucc.ie/fcis
