There seems to be a clear difference in risk perception for transgenic food products in various EC countries. Because Dutch potatoes are exported to almost all other EC member states, public attitudes in all of these countries is important for the Dutch potato industry. In an EC study on public attitudes towards biotechnology, it was shown that most people consider environmental and consumer organizations the most trustworthy sources of information on the impact of biotechnology. Concerning transgenic potatoes in the Netherlands, the environmental organizations are the most critical. They favor a restrained approach, because it is still uncertain what the long term environmental impact will be.
Consumer organizations stress the importance of sufficient information for the consumer.
Therefore they favor compulsory labeling. To achieve broad acceptance of transgenic agricultural products, a dialogue must be set up between proponents and critics of genetically modified food products. Only in this way may consensus be reached on which applications of genetic engineering hold benefits for all groups in society. Concerning transgenic potatoes, this implies that biotechnology firms and the potato business on the one hand, and environmental and consumer organizations on the other hand, must enter a dialogue to discuss which transgenic potatoes should be developed and introduced. So far the development of genetically modified potatoes has been determined mainly by technological feasibility.