6-Regulation: Italy accepts biotech crops but allows regions to banthem

[GENET <coordination@genet-info.org>]

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   "From here comes the need to regulate the coexistence both to protect
    Italian made goods and the appeals from society and the country,
    in that 13 Italian regions, 27 provinces, 1,486 municipalities have
    put forward rules to be defined as GM-FREE. This has also happened
    because there is no national law to refer to."
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                                 PART I
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Italy accepts biotech crops but allows regions to ban them
SOURCE: Agence France Press
        http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1539&ncid=1539&e=
        7&u=/afp/20041111/sc_afp/italy_food_biotech_041111202039
DATE:   11 Nov 2004

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Italy accepts biotech crops but allows regions to ban them

ROME (AFP) - The Italian government gave the green light for genetically
modified (GMO) crops but said regions were free to ban them if their
citizens wished. Already 13 of the country's 20 regions, 27 provinces and
nearly 1,500 towns and communities have proclaimed themselves "GMO-free
zones" and they will be able to continue doing so. But Agriculture
Minister Gianni Alemanno said decree adopted by the cabinet would allow
for "coexistence" between opponents and supporters of biotech crops. The
government has stressed the need to defend traditional farming methods as
well as the right of consumers and producers to choose. He said 70
percent of Italians are opposed to genetic modification of crops. While
allowing biotech production, the law insists on extreme caution to avoid
cross-contamination by GMO seeds in the country's highly fragmented
agricultural land. The law had been delayed by the reticence of Prime
Minister Silvuio Berlusconi, who said his government had been elected to
give more rather than less freedom to citizens. But Alemanno said liberty
had to be accompanied by rules. Defenders of engineered crops had a
champion in former Health Minister Umberto Veronesi, who said there were
no products more carefully controlled.


                                  PART II
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  GM: ALEMANNO, COEXISTENCE DECREE
SOURCE: AGI, Italy, on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office
        http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200411091928-1215-RT1-CRO-0-
        NF82&page=0&id=agionline-eng.italyonline
DATE:   9 Nov 2004

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


GM: ALEMANNO, COEXISTENCE DECREE

(AGI) - Rome, Italy, 9 November - The GM foods decree is based "on the
coexistence between genetically modified cultivation and organic." Thus
said Agriculture Minister, Gianni Alemanno, presenting a 31 page document
during an "food industry meeting" at the Prime Minister's office. The GM
question - he explained - is complex in at least four ways: research and
experimentation, non-agricultural applications, food production,
agricultural production. Each one of these aspects is regulated by
specific rules and , therefore, can be treated relatively independently."
On research, Alemanno recalled that it is "a subject regulated by EU
Directive 18/2001, applied in Italy with a law of 8 July 2003."
Biotechnological research, furthermore, in particular, "in its more
advanced applications such as the functional genome, is something much
broader than genetic modification, and, thus, GM production." Alemanno
then recalled that on the agricultural use of GM "science is divided",
due to which the Agriculture Ministry has started a series of projects in
favour of biotechnological research. But biotech is not only genetically
modified plants but also applications in many fields, among which, is
ground level medical, pharmaceutical, nutritional and environmental
research. All these applications are to be considered independent of
agricultural cultivation. Alemanno then recalled that for GM there will
be product labelling. And that, therefore, in Italy and in the EU "the
sale of such products is already permitted." In the EU the cultivation of
authorised GM cannot be banned, but needs to happen in respect for the
rules. For this member states have been asked to legislate on the matter.
Alemanno then recalled the there are 1,319,938 farms potentially involved
in GM in Italy. Thus, the problem of coexistence is more serious in Italy
compared to larger countries like the USA, Argentina, Canada, Brazil and
Chile". From here comes the need to regulate the coexistence both to
protect Italian made goods and the appeals from society and the country,
in that 13 Italian regions, 27 provinces, 1,486 municipalities have put
forward rules to be defined as GM-FREE. "This has also happened because
there is no national law to refer to."


                                  PART III
-------------------------------- GENET-news -------------------------------

TITLE:  Polenta and Pesto Against GM Foods
SOURCE: La Repubblica, Italy / posted by Slow Food, Italy
        http://www.slowfood.com/eng/sf_sloweb/sf_sloweb.lasso?-database=
        sf_sloweb&-layout=tutti&-response=sf_sloweb_dettaglio.lasso&-
        recordID=35556&-search
DATE:   8 Nov 2004

------------------- archive: http://www.genet-info.org/ -------------------


Polenta and Pesto Against GM Foods

The GM food debate in Italy is set to become even more heated this week.
Whilst 19 scientists have declared GM foods 'safe and useful', the
Italian Minister of Agriculture Gianni Alemanno wants to pass a decree
limiting their use.

Adding his voice to the debate, Slow Food President Carlo Petrini states:
"We want the world of gastronomy to send a clear message to the
government to approve the decree to regulate GM foods...Farmers have
already protested against the careless liberalization of GM crops, as
have the populations of Italy's regions".

The former Minister of Health Umberto Veronesi, however, who is leading a
group of scientists in favor of GM foods, has denounced Petrini's
campaign as inaccurate and unscientific.

Petrini is urging the world of gastronomy to fight back against claims
made about pesto. According to scientists, a pesto produced from basil
leaves less than 10cm long can contain a carcinogenic substance, a claim
which Petrini judges groundless and "verging on the ridiculous".

"It comes as no surprise that the world of science plays on the confusion
between genetic selection, practiced by farmers all over the world, and
transgenic modification, skating over the crucial issue of patents which
is at the very center of so many interests."

Fuelling the protest against GM foods, Slow Food has invited restaurant
owners and chefs to put polenta and pesto on their menus. On November 11,
while official discussions take place between ministers, many unofficial
ones will be underway over plates of polenta and pesto.




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GENET
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