Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure Mexicans’ perceptions and attitudes about the production and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire with 63 questions that encompassed 11 latent factors was used to obtain information. The questionnaire was administered to 14,720 people in Mexico’s urban areas. Findings The results revealed important similarities and differences with studies in other countries, showing mainly that the respondents did not have sufficient information about GMOs, they have low level of knowledge about GMOs (31.28 percent), are highly distrustful of GMOs, perceive high risk regarding GMOs (59.13 percent), want transgenic products to be labeled (93.59 percent) and do not perceive GMOs’ social values and positive health effects beyond increasing agricultural productivity. Also, it was observed that the higher the educational level of individuals, the lower the acceptance of GMOs. Research limitations/implications The authors conclude that it is necessary to generate and provide scientifically accurate information on GMOs, so that people are better informed and can give a critical opinion on the use of GMOs. Practical implications The major practical contribution of this research is that it provides empirical knowledge about the perceptions and attitudes toward the production and consumption of GMOs among the Mexican’s urban society, which can be of great help for the Mexican government to rethink if it is an appropriate moment to completely open the doors to international companies to cultivate crops like maize and others that have been postponed due to pressure from the environmental groups, farmers and other sectors of the society. Social implications This is especially important in the context of maize as it is part of the cultural heritage of Mexico since ancient times. However, it is not clear what the overall perception is in the Mexican society on the use of GMOs for cultivation. Originality/value Southern regions of Mexico are the center of origin of several cultivated plants such as maize and legumes. The introduction of GMOs, called transgenics, in agriculture and food continues to cause enormous controversy in the perceptions and attitudes mainly among environmental groups and farmers in Mexico.

La detección de un evento raro o escaso (con prevalencia baja p ≤ 0.1) en el diseño de experimentos agrícolas de una población consume muchos recursos. Por ello, se recurre al muestreo inverso (binomial negativo) el cual consta de una serie de ensayos con respuesta binaria (presencia o ausencia) en el que no se deja de muestrear hasta obtener un número predeterminado de individuos con la característica de interés. Por ello se propone un método para calcular el tamaño de muestra requerido (número de unidades positivas) bajo muestreo inverso que asegura exactitud en la proporción estimada porque garantiza que la amplitud (W) del intervalo de confianza (IC) será igual a, o más estrecha que, la amplitud deseada (ω), con una probabilidad γ (nivel de aseguramiento). Dado lo complejo y laborioso del proceso de estimación tanto del tamaño de muestra y de los parámetros de interés (proporción, varianza, desviación estándar, total e intervalos de confianza para la proporción y el total) se propone un software de distribución libre para muestreo inverso bajo el enfoque de exactitud en la estimación de parámetros que automatiza el cálculo de tamaños de muestra y de los parámetros de interés. Además el software provee una interfaz gráfica, fácil, segura y amigable con el usuario. Se recomienda el uso de la fórmula propuesta pues garantiza que con una probabilidad γ (nivel de aseguramiento ≥ 0.5) la precisión fijada a priori del IC se cumpla. Lo cual produce mayor exactitud en el estudio de interés realizado.