Abstract
Consumers are increasingly interested in sustainability and more sustainable production methods but, especially in Europe, they have been quite critical toward particular applications of genetic modification (GM). While there is little doubt that the sustainability issue entails substantial opportunities for biorenewables, the GM issue βposing either a threat or an opportunity βis less straightforward. Although initial findings suggest that European consumers feel positive about biotechnology applications for biofuel production, consumer attitudes toward and acceptance of GM, specifically in the production of biorenewables, have not been investigated in depth, leaving numerous questions unresolved and calling for further social sciences research in this area. A particularly interesting path to explore is to what extent the consumer's belief that GM is tampering with nature, and therefore is ethically wrong, might be outweighed by the perception that GM in biorenewables production contributes to reβestablishing the balance in nature and therefore is beneficial overall. Further challenges pertain to communication, providing tangible benefits to consumers, and monitoring consumer acceptance and adoption of biorenewables. Β© 2007 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd