Assumming that the levels of social acceptance related to the various existing genetic engineering applications vary, this PoNa-Paper shows how policy-makers, scientists and biotechnology-critics evaluate genetically modified microorganisms used in the food industry. Within the theoretical
framing of the concept “societal relations to nature” the discourse of selected actors is analysed by studying 26 documents available on the Internet. Thereby actor specific interpretation-processes are identified, which reproduce the difference of nature and society by referring to “contained use” and thus implying the discoursive exclusion of genetically modified microorganisms from nature. The common goal of the identified interpretation-processes is to cope with an anticipated risk related to genetically modified organisms. However, the efforts undertaken in the discourse to manage the anticipated risk stand in a remarkable contradiction with disposal-technics: According to the legal framework genetically modified microorganisms are regularly released into the environment after use.