Pesticides are widely used to protect agricultural products from pests and diseases. Although a strict regulatory framework exists in the EU, concerns about pesticide residues in food are retained among consumers. This study represents the first large sample (N = 1846) attempt to identify the main predictors influencing Greek consumers’ attitude concerning the benefits—risks ratio of pesticide use. After a principal components analysis and a bivariate logistic regression were performed, it was found that Greek consumers express high concerns from pesticide residues in food regarding their loved ones and their own health. At the same time, however, they recognize to a significant extent beneficial contributions of the use of pesticides to food security and the national economy, as well. Several significant predictors of consumer’s attitude towards benefit—risks perception of pesticide use was identified, concerning personal values, pesticide user status, gender, confidence in controlling and certification procedures, and received information. Our results suggest that efforts for risk communication are needed to address food safety issues targeting the general public.

The purpose of this study was to assess the Greek public’s perceptions of the reliability of information received about the Russo-Ukrainian war in the spring of 2022. The study was conducted through an online questionnaire survey consisting of closed-ended statements on a five-point Likert scale. Principal components analysis was performed on the collected data. The retained principal components (PCs) were subjected to non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis to group respondents into clusters based on the similarity of perceived outcomes. A total of 840 responses were obtained. Twenty-eight original variables from the questionnaire were summarised into five PCs, explaining 63.0% of the total variance. The majority of respondents felt that the information they had received about the Russo-Ukrainian war was unreliable. Older, educated, professional people with exposure to fake news were sceptical about the reliability of information related to the war. Young adults who were active on social networks and had no detailed knowledge of the events considered information about the war to be reliable. The study found that the greater an individual’s ability to spot fake news, the lower their trust in social media and their information habits on social networks.