Letter to the editor: Engaging (but not 'educating') the public in technology developments may contribute to a socially sustainable dairy industry

摘要

In a well-conducted and analyzed survey of German consumers, Pieper et al. (2016) found that the majority of respondents lacked basic knowledge about milk production and had negative perceptions toward the use of sexed semen, embryo transfer, hormone treatment to increase dairy cows' fertility, and cloning. This led the authors to conclude that there is a need to educate consumers to inform them about dairy production and modern farm management practices. The rationale for this would be to prevent a scenario where the use and future development of reproductive technologies could be made difficult via (1) consumers' buying choices, and (2) concerned citizens' political support to restrictive regulations.