Opinion survey of the Hong Kong general public regarding genomic science and technology and their ethical and social implications

Figures & data

Table 1. Grouping of different kinds of dialing responses in Phone Survey.

Dialing responses	n	%
Ineligibility status was confirmed	7708	46.4
Fail qualify	849	5.1
Language problem	134	0.8
Business	1033	6.2
Facsimile	779	4.7
Invalid phone number	4913	29.6
Eligibility status was undetermined	3954	23.8
Refusal before screening	21	0.1
No answer	3632	21.9
Busy	301	1.8
Interviews incomplete	668	4.0
Partially done cases	71	0.4
Refusal after screening	597	3.6
Not available	3405	20.5
Successful cases	877	5.3
Total	16612	100.0
Notes: Response rate = done cases/(done+partial+refusal after screening) = 56.8%.
The sampling error for the survey is ±3.3%. It is calculated by the formula: where α = 0.05; zα = 1.96; response rate (rr) = 0.0568; sample size (ss) = 877.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of “General Public” (n = 870).

	n	%*
Gender
Male	428	49.2
Female	442	50.8
Age
18–24	260	29.9
25–44	444	51.1
45–64	165	19.0
Mean±S.D^§	33.9±11.74
Education
High school (F5 graduate) & matriculation	464	53.6
College & undergraduate	356	41.1
Postgraduate	46	5.3
Religion
No religion	623	71.8
Christian	204	23.5
Buddhism	36	4.1
Others	5	0.6
Occupation
Pre-university students	78	9.0
University students	87	10.1
Employees without university education	284	32.9
Employees with university education	287	33.3
Jobless/housewife/retired	126	14.6
Notes: *Excluded non-response cases. ^§Means and S.D.s of age groups are evaluated from age classes.

Table 3. Mean scores of themes and its related questions from “General Population”.

Theme	Content	Respondents of “General Public” from phone survey
		Mean	Overall mean	Cronbach's alpha
A. Use of genomic science and technologies (GST) to prevent disease	(3) GST will reduce the number of disabled children born	3.50	3.21	0.76
	(4) GST will be used to stop children from inheriting the usually fatal genetic disease, e.g. Thalassemia Anemia, major, even when the risks involved are not yet completely known	3.38
	(5) GST will be used to stop children from inheriting non-fatal birth defects, e.g. cleft lip, even when risks not yet completely known	3.12
	(7) GST will be used to stop children from inheriting mental retardation, even when risks completely known	3.04
	(9) GST will be used to test if a person is at increased risk of having diseases such as cancer, heart diseases and dementia, even when risks not completely known	3.01
B. Human genetic enhancement	(6) If GST can help to raise children to become successful people, people will use them to improve the next generation, even when risks are not completely known	1.92	2.05	0.78
	(8) GST will be used to improve the intelligence level of an unborn child, even when risks not completely known	2.18
C. Non-human genetic enhancement	(12) People will try to increase food production by genetically modified crops, even when risks not completely known	2.83	2.56	0.74
	(13) People will increase food production by genetically modified fish or animals, even when risks not completely known	2.34
	(14) Human DNA will be transferred to other organisms for medical purposes, e.g. transfer human genes to microbes to produce insulin, even when risks not completely known	2.52
D. GST and negative reproductive implications	(18) Genetic testing will encourage people to have nothing less than perfect babies and this will lead to excessive, unnecessary and unjustified abortions	2.94	2.91	0.73
	(23) Many pregnant women may consent to genetic testing without being fully informed of the nature and implications of the tests being done	2.90
	(24) Many pregnant women may consent to genetic testing and make a decision of abortion after the test without being fully informed of the nature and implications of the tests being done	2.87
E. Abusive uses of genetic information	(19) Insurance companies may refuse to provide insurance coverage on the basis of a person's genetic profile	3.26	2.68	0.74
	(20) Employers may discriminate against employees on the basis of their known genetic information	2.83
	(21) Children may be rejected from school on the basis of their known genetic information	2.47
	(22) Genetic information will be stored in computers (databanks) and it may be accessed by third parties, e.g. schools, police, health departments or other government departments etc without the owners' permission	2.16
F.  (1) Health and diseases are determined by genes		3.23	3.23	Nil
G. (2) GST reduces personal responsibility for health		2.87	2.87	Nil
H. (10) Society cannot guarantee GI used fairly		3.40	3.40	Nil
I. (11) Family members are obliged to share GI with each other		3.32	3.32	Nil
J. (15) Many other healthcare problems have priority over GST		3.63	3.63	Nil
K. (16) Genomic science ultimately tampers with nature		4.00	4.00	Nil
L. (17) GST should be prohibited before oversight mechanisms in place		3.30	3.30	Nil
Note: Themes F to L contain single question.

Table 4. The results of multiple regression of various themes.

Independent variables	Regression coefficients (standard error) in themes
	A	B	C	D	E	G	H	I	J	K	L
Gender			−0.17 (0.062)**						0.14 (0.066)*	0.17 (0.071)*
Age		0.10 (0.046)*	−0.11 (0.045)*	−0.11 (0.047)*		−0.25 (0.068)***		0.21 (0.057)***		−0.15 (0.052)**
Education		−0.16 (0.053)**		0.23 (0.054)***	0.18 (0.053)**	−0.34 (0.070)***	0.23 (0.064)***	−0.14 (0.066)*	−0.14 (0.056)*
Religion	−0.15 (0.049)**	−0.16 (0.058)**					0.14 (0.070)*		0.16 (0.061)*	0.19 (0.065)**	0.25 (0.066)***
Occupation						0.13 (0.043)**
Notes: Stepwise method is adopted for the analysis of multiple regression of age, gender, education, religion and occupation as defined in Table 1. None of the variables are significant to the modeling of theme F.
*Demographic variable(s) significant to the regression model at 5% level.
**Demographic variable(s) significant to the regression model at 1% level.
***Demographic variable(s) significant to the regression model at 0.1% level.

Figure 1. The distribution of responses (in %) of all questions in various themes.

Table 5. Different responses (in %) for various themes (A to L) by telephone respondents.

Responses	Percentage
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L
Strongly disagree	9.1	36.7	21.3	15.3	22.7	5.4	12.8	6.3	8.0	1.8	4.0	4.5
Disagree	15.0	32.5	27.7	20.6	23.8	11.1	27.3	13.7	13.7	8.1	3.9	16.6
Neutral	34.8	22.5	30.3	31.9	25.5	50.1	29.8	32.8	33.3	36.9	20.0	40.0
Agree	28.0	5.5	15.2	22.7	18.9	21.9	20.4	28.2	28.4	31.7	31.9	22.1
Strongly agree	13.1	2.7	5.6	9.6	9.1	11.5	9.6	18.9	16.7	21.4	40.2	16.9

Table 6A. Comparison of mean score by gender, age and education of “General Public” in Phone Survey.

Item		Gender			Age					Education
		Mean		p-value of t-test	Mean			p-value of ANOVA	Pair-wise difference	Mean			p-value of ANOVA	Pair-wise difference
		Male	Female		18–24	25–44	45–64			High school & matriculation	College & undergraduate	Postgraduate
Theme	A	3.20	3.21	0.864	3.23	3.20	3.21	0.884		3.25	3.15	3.25	0.202
	B	2.11	1.99	0.044	2.02	2.00	2.24	0.015	(2,3)	2.16	1.93	1.92	0.001	(1,2)
	C	2.65	2.47	0.005	2.66	2.53	2.46	0.059		2.57	2.56	2.45	0.686
	D	2.97	2.85	0.063	2.97	2.95	2.73	0.021	(1,3),(2,3)	2.79	2.99	3.39	<0.001	(1,2),(2,3),(1,3)
	E	2.71	2.64	0.294	2.73	2.69	2.58	0.235		2.58	2.79	2.86	0.002	(1,2)
	F	3.21	3.25	0.560	3.17	3.23	3.36	0.129		3.22	3.21	3.50	0.151
	G	2.78	2.95	0.031	2.98	2.88	2.72	0.085		2.99	2.78	2.27	<0.001	(1,2),(2,3),(1,3)
	H	3.37	3.43	0.434	3.42	3.42	3.31	0.506		3.30	3.46	4.00	<0.001	(1,3),(2,3)
	I	3.26	3.38	0.104	3.22	3.25	3.68	<0.001	(1,3),(2,3)	3.41	3.23	3.20	0.052
	J	3.55	3.70	0.025	3.55	3.67	3.65	0.280		3.69	3.58	3.37	0.042	(1,3)*
	K	3.92	4.09	0.021	4.09	4.05	3.78	0.007	(1,3),(2,3)	4.01	4.05	3.73	0.163
	L	3.26	3.34	0.283	3.20	3.37	3.29	0.112		3.34	3.29	3.11	0.381

Table 6B. Comparison of mean score by occupation and religious belief of “General Public” in Phone Survey.

Item		Religious belief^‡					Occupation
		Mean			p-value of ANOVA	Pair-wise difference	Mean					p-value of ANOVA	Pair-wise difference
		No religion	Christian	Buddhism			Pre-U Students	U-Students	Non U-Employees	U-Employees	Unemployed
Theme	A	3.26	3.09	3.04	0.014	(1,2)	3.28	3.13	3.24	3.18	3.20	0.704
	B	2.12	1.85	2.13	0.001	(1,2)	2.04	1.91	2.20	1.96	2.05	0.013	(3,4)
	C	2.60	2.50	2.31	0.099		2.86	2.53	2.54	2.58	2.40	0.012	(1,5)
	D	2.89	2.94	2.96	0.744		3.05	2.93	2.78	3.07	2.71	0.000	(3,4),(4,5)
	E	2.65	2.75	2.75	0.331		2.71	2.84	2.54	2.76	2.67	0.023	(2,3),(3,4)
	F	3.25	3.19	3.17	0.641		3.29	3.13	3.18	3.27	3.28	0.578
	G	2.87	2.85	2.86	0.968		2.67	3.01	3.00	2.68	3.03	0.002	(3,4)
	H	3.34	3.49	3.69	0.070		3.56	3.37	3.27	3.57	3.32	0.011	(3,4)
	I	3.30	3.33	3.57	0.385		3.22	3.18	3.38	3.24	3.57	0.039	(1,5),(2,5),(4,5)*
	J	3.57	3.77	3.81	0.021	(1,2)	3.51	3.57	3.70	3.52	3.80	0.036	(1,5),(3,4),(4,5)*
	K	3.94	4.21	4.03	0.006	(1,2)	4.17	4.14	3.98	3.95	3.99	0.387
	L	3.24	3.47	3.61	0.005	(1,2)	3.10	3.16	3.36	3.29	3.41	0.169
Notes:
Age: (1) 18–24; (2) 25–44; (3) 45–64; Education: (1) High school & matriculation; (2) College & undergraduate; (3) Postgraduate; Occupation: (1) Pre-U students (F5 & matriculation students); (2) Non U-employees (employees without university education); (3) U-employees (employees with university education); (4) Unemployed (jobless/housewife/retired); Religion: (1) No religion; (2) Christian; (3) Buddhist.
‡“Others” have been omitted from the comparison due to insufficient sample size of the group.
(1,2): Significant pair-wise difference of group 1 and 2 by Scheffe's test.
*Fisher LSD test.