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Abstract
Given the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from beef production and rising concerns
with climate change, genomics have been introduced to facilitate selective breeding for increased
feed efficiency in beef cattle as one area of emissions reductions. Public perception is an important
consideration in this endeavour. In this study data collected from a survey of 1803 participants from
across Canada is analysed and the influence of attitudes and knowledge pertaining to the
environment and biotechnologies on the degree of acceptance and relative perceived benefit to
human health of this use of genetic technology is examined. Upon grouping respondents into
categories of those who oppose, doubt, and support this use of genomics, multinomial logistic
regressions are used to determine the factors influencing an opposing or supporting position, relative
to doubt, the relatively neutral position. Results suggest that distinct characteristics influence the
likelihood of supporting or opposing this use of technology with respect to two different measures of
acceptability of the technology - degree of acceptance and relative perceived benefits to human
health.