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Genetic modification is a special set of gene technology that alters the genetic machinery of such living organisms as animals, plants or microorganisms. Combining genes from different organisms is known as recombinant DNA technology and the resulting organism is said to be ‘Genetically modified (GM)’, ‘Genetically engineered’ or ‘Transgenic’. The principal transgenic crops grown commercially in field are herbicide and insecticide resistant soybeans, corn, cotton and canola. Other crops grown commercially and/or field-tested are sweet potato resistant to a virus that could destroy most of the African harvest, rice with increased iron and vitamins that may alleviate chronic malnutrition in Asian countries and a variety of plants that are able to survive weather extremes. There are bananas that produce human vaccines against infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, fish that mature more quickly, fruit and nut trees that yield years earlier and plants that produce new plastics with unique properties. Technologies for genetically modifying foods offer dramatic promise for meeting some areas of greatest challenge for the 21st century. Like all new technologies, they also pose some risks, both known and unknown. Controversies and public concern surrounding GM foods and crops commonly focus on human and environmental safety, labelling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction and environmental conservation. With this new technology on gene manipulation what are the risks of “tampering with Mother Nature”?, what effects will this have on the environment?, what are the health concerns that consumers should be aware of? and is recombinant technology really beneficial? This review will also address some major concerns about the safety, environmental and ecological risks and health hazards involved with GM foods and recombinant technology.

Purpose:  The objectives of this study were 1) to determine the direct effect of Transformational Leadership Competency (TLC) and Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) affecting Balanced Scorecard (BSC), 2) to determine the indirect effect of TLC affecting BSC, and 3) to confirm the developed model of transformational of food industrial organization with public concern by confirming with P-value, RMSEA, GFI, AGFI, and Critical Number.   Theoretical framework:  This study focuses on the relationship between TLC and ESG to BSC that affects the efficiency and success of an organization.   Design/methodology/approach:  The quantitative approach with survey research was conducted to collect data from 150 Executive Officers (CEOs) of food business organizations in Thailand.   Findings:  The finding showed that TCL has a direct effect on ESG (p-value=0.001). TLC has a direct effect on BSC (p-value=0.001). ESG has a direct effect on BSC (p-value=0.001). TLC has an indirect effect on BSC (p-value=0.001).   Research, Practical & Social implications: The recommendation, TLC affected BSC with direct and indirect effects with 64.0 percent.  It implied that public concern is the essential intermediate variable that should be paid attention to introduce in the organization management in the current situation when TLC was integrated into modern management. However, to accomplish effective company management, ESG should be integrated into the transformation of organization management to meet the sustainable food industry.   Originality/value: The value of the study shows that TLC and ESG directly and indirectly influence BSC management and contribute to the organization performance

In the information era, effective environmental protection cannot be achieved without public concern. In this paper, public environmental concern (PEC) is subdivided into public concern about environmental pollution (PCEP), environmental regulations (PCER), and green behavior (PCGB). Based on the data set of the listed companies in China from 2011 to 2019 and the Baidu Index, we examine the influence of the three types of PECs on enterprises’ environmental protection investment (EPI) in their different stages of the enterprise life cycle. It was found that three types of PECs have a significant impact on EPI, with PCER having the greatest effect. The impact of PEC varies at stages of the enterprise life cycle, and only in the growth stage, the three kinds of PECs play a significant role in promoting enterprises’ EPI, while not in the maturity and the decline stages. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this positive effect is only significant for enterprises without ISO14001 certification and those in western China; PCER can significantly promote capitalized environmental investment, while PCEP can significantly promote expensed environmental investment. The findings can help to clarify the key role of the public in supervising the enterprises’ environmental protection behavior and provide a decision-making basis for enterprises to dynamically adjust their environmental investment strategies in the whole life cycle.

This study investigates the impact of public environmental concern on corporate greenwashing behavior, emphasizing the underlying mechanisms. Analysis of panel data from China’s A-share listed companies (2012–2022) indicates that public scrutiny substantially curtails greenwashing. Two primary mediating mechanisms are identified: environmental penalties and green development. The environmental penalties mechanism suggests that both the strengthening of environmental penalties in the region and environmental compliance by corporate are pathways through which public environmental concern can effectively mitigate corporate greenwashing; while the green development mechanism suggests that the improvement of the level of green innovation by corporate or the greening of their investment strategies are mechanisms through which public environmental concerns can reduce corporate greenwashing. Heterogeneity analysis indicates more pronounced effects in industries with significant pollution and in environments characterized by considerable uncertainty. Non-state-owned firms exhibit heightened responsiveness to public concern compared to state-owned enterprises. This study enhances comprehension of corporate greenwashing and offers evidence for formulating distinct environmental strategies.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health information related to COVID-19 has spread across news media worldwide. Google is among the most used internet search engines, and the Google Trends tool can reflect how the public seeks COVID-19-related health information during the pandemic. The aim of this study was to understand health communication through Google Trends and news coverage and to explore their relationship with prevention and control of COVID-19 at the early epidemic stage. To achieve the study objectives, we analyzed the public's information-seeking behaviors on Google and news media coverage on COVID-19. We collected data on COVID-19 news coverage and Google search queries from eight countries (ie, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand) between January 1 and April 29, 2020. We depicted the characteristics of the COVID-19 news coverage trends over time, as well as the search query trends for the topics of COVID-19-related \"diseases,\" \"treatments and medical resources,\" \"symptoms and signs,\" and \"public measures.\" The search query trends provided the relative search volume (RSV) as an indicator to represent the popularity of a specific search term in a specific geographic area over time. Also, time-lag correlation analysis was used to further explore the relationship between search terms trends and the number of new daily cases, as well as the relationship between search terms trends and news coverage. Across all search trends in eight countries, almost all search peaks appeared between March and April 2020, and declined in April 2020. Regarding COVID-19-related \"diseases,\" in most countries, the RSV of the term \"coronavirus\" increased earlier than that of \"covid-19\"; however, around April 2020, the search volume of the term \"covid-19\" surpassed that of \"coronavirus.\" Regarding the topic \"treatments and medical resources,\" the most and least searched terms were \"mask\" and \"ventilator,\" respectively. Regarding the topic \"symptoms and signs,\" \"fever\" and \"cough\" were the most searched terms. The RSV for the term \"lockdown\" was significantly higher than that for \"social distancing\" under the topic \"public health measures.\" In addition, when combining search trends with news coverage, there were three main patterns: (1) the pattern for Singapore, (2) the pattern for the United States, and (3) the pattern for the other countries. In the time-lag correlation analysis between the RSV for the topic \"treatments and medical resources\" and the number of new daily cases, the RSV for all countries except Singapore was positively correlated with new daily cases, with a maximum correlation of 0.8 for the United States. In addition, in the time-lag correlation analysis between the overall RSV for the topic \"diseases\" and the number of daily news items, the overall RSV was positively correlated with the number of daily news items, the maximum correlation coefficient was more than 0.8, and the search behavior occurred 0 to 17 days earlier than the news coverage. Our findings revealed public interest in masks, disease control, and public measures, and revealed the potential value of Google Trends in the face of the emergence of new infectious diseases. Also, Google Trends combined with news media can achieve more efficient health communication. Therefore, both news media and Google Trends can contribute to the early prevention and control of epidemics.

The spread of fake news on social media became a public concern in the United States after the 2016 presidential election. We examined exposure to and sharing of fake news by registered voters on Twitter and found that engagement with fake news sources was extremely concentrated. Only 1% of individuals accounted for 80% of fake news source exposures, and 0.1% accounted for nearly 80% of fake news sources shared. Individuals most likely to engage with fake news sources were conservative leaning, older, and highly engaged with political news. A cluster of fake news sources shared overlapping audiences on the extreme right, but for people across the political spectrum, most political news exposure still came from mainstream media outlets.

In the early months of the COVID-19 epidemic, some have wondered if the force of this global experience will solve the problem of vaccine refusal that has vexed and preoccupied the global public health community for the last several decades. Drawing on historical and epidemiological analyses, we critique contemporary approaches to reducing vaccine hesitancy and articulate our notion of vaccine confidence as an expanded way of conceptualizing the problem and how to respond to it. Intervening on the rush of vaccine optimism we see pervading present discourse around the COVID-19 epidemic, we call for a re-imagination of the culture of public health and the meaning of vaccine safety regulations. Public confidence in vaccination programs depends on the work they do for the community—social, political, and moral as well as biological. The concept of public health and its programs must be broader than the delivery of the vaccine technology itself. The narrative work and policy actions entailed in actualizing such changes will, we expect, be essential in achieving a true vaccine confidence, however the public reacts to the specific vaccine that may be developed for COVID-19.

The event prompted media condemnation, with concerns about transparency, accountability, and equality,1 and many scientists spoke out about the effect of Cummings' actions and the UK Government's defence of Cummings in undermining essential public health messaging.1,2 It is only now, however, with the benefit of hindsight provided by systematic data, that we can see these negative effects in stark detail. [...]using data from questions identical in format to those about confidence in government, we compared confidence in the health service to cope with the pandemic, and confidence that access to essentials (eg, food and medication) would be maintained during the same time period. After an initial increase in public confidence in the ability of the government to handle the pandemic well between March 21 and March 23, 2020, as lockdown came in, the government's announcement on May 10, 2020, that society would begin to reopen in England through a staged series of lockdown easing measures as part of a new COVID-19 alert level system was followed by a decrease in confidence (appendix p 1–3).

Heatwaves are important climatic extremes in atmospheric and oceanic systems that can have devastating and long-term impacts on ecosystems, with subsequent socioeconomic consequences. Recent prominent marine heatwaves have attracted considerable scientific and public interest. Despite this, a comprehensive assessment of how these ocean temperature extremes have been changing globally is missing. Using a range of ocean temperature data including global records of daily satellite observations, daily in situ measurements and gridded monthly in situ-based data sets, we identify significant increases in marine heatwaves over the past century. We find that from 1925 to 2016, global average marine heatwave frequency and duration increased by 34% and 17%, respectively, resulting in a 54% increase in annual marine heatwave days globally. Importantly, these trends can largely be explained by increases in mean ocean temperatures, suggesting that we can expect further increases in marine heatwave days under continued global warming. Marine heatwaves are climatic extremes with devastating and long-term impacts on marine ecosystems, fisheries and aquaculture. Here the authors use a range of ocean temperature observations to identify significant increases in marine heatwaves over the past century.

Currently, the topic of the environment is being discussed. However, many people do not understand how to implement good environmental care behavior. This is caused by a person’s low and limited knowledge and experience regarding the environmental field. Therefore, this research is conducted to find solutions to these problems. The solution offered by researchers is to create an environment-based application that can provide up-to-date and accurate daily news and information about environmental conditions around users and is also equipped with features where users can also search for any activities and communities engaged in the environmental sector that are held at the location that is close to the user. Furthermore, with the various features and eye-catching visual appearance that have been offered by the application, it is hoped that the public’s concern, interest, and awareness of topics related to environmental conditions can also increase rapidly. This research is conducted using a design thinking method and obtained data by distributing questionnaires about the environment to predetermined respondents and conducting in- depth interviews with potential users. As conclusion, almost all respondents want to be actively involved in environmental activities and are interested in the features offered.