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That's a strikingly high number. Do 2/3 of Americans even approve of GMO food?

I feel like there is a strong emotional component at play in these approval rates. There are many people who have been touched and directly impacted by disease, terminal or otherwise. It changes your life in a really stark and eye-opening way, whether you're the afflicted or it is someone you love or care about. While GMO's certainly draw concern and ridicule from swaths of the public, many aren't impacted by them in the same immediate (read:empirical I see it with my own eyes without a shred of doubt) way a serious disease is capable of. Probably part of the reason, anyway.

I feel that the same effect is at play with vaccines.

Because few Americans have seen Measles, Mumps and Rubella first hand they are more willing to take irresponsible risks. Things like a 10% mortality rate make a disease feel safe because people think they will always be in the 90%. Anybody with a cursory knowledge of mortality rates knows that 10% is a horrifying number and that disease must be awful, some strains of Ebola kill 10% of people getting it.

I don't think its such a high number. I've seen the religious argument, but have met very few (one to be specific) religious folks that would not move heaven and earth to fix some of the problems with children before birth. Love and protection of the children extends quite far. Its really a small fringe that doesn't participate in modern medicine.

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