Public attitudes to GM foods. The balancing of risks and gains

•Naturalness, environmental impact, risks and gains impact on overall attitudes.•In this analysis people tend to be more favourable to cisgenesis than transgenesis.•Perceived risks are more important for attitudes to transgenesis than cisgenesis.•Religion, scientific background, education age and gender all impact on attitudes.•Different attitudes in and between EU countries make a common policy difficult. In the paper we study the variables influencing attitudes to the use of two biotechnologies related to gene transfer within apples. Using Eurobarometer 73.1 survey data on biotechnology, science and technology, with 15,650 respondents, we study the extent these attitudes are determined by socio-economic and other variables. We found that attitudes to the risks and gains are determined by socio-economic variables and also by the individual's knowledge, scientific background, their parent's education in science and their religion. Perceptions of naturalness and of environmental impact combined with perceived risks and gains in determining overall approval, proxied by views on whether the technologies should be encouraged, for GMTs. However there are substantial differences in attitudes to transgenesis and cisgenesis.