#ItaliaNoOgm. No to GMOs in Italy, warn Parliament and government
International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3.12.20. Open letter
26th November 2020
Disability Pride Network and Disability Care Workshops, 3-4.12.20
29th November 2020
The Agriculture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, in its secret rooms, is evaluating the opportunity to admit the introduction in Italy of the new GMOs, the so-called NBTs (New Breeding Techniques).
#ItaliaNoOgm is the campaign that comes to life in these hours, to firmly oppose the dangerous hypothesis of using biotechnologies in agriculture. Be wary of the Italian Parliament and the government, report to Brussels.
GMOs in Italy, political works in secret
The Italian Government - in addition to having voted in favor of 'smoke gray' reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) - has prepared some legislative projects that aim to introduce in the Bel Paese the possibility of importing and manufacturing, reproducing and placing on the market genetically modified materials.
The Commissions competent Chamber and Senate now find themselves expressing their opinions on three complex schemes of legislative decrees that hide a trap. With the aim of overturning Italy's historic position on GMOs:
- the Italian legislator, in 2004, introduced a de facto ban on the use of GMOs in agriculture, (1)
- the Conte government, in 2020, tries to pave the way for franken-seed. On the sly, without consulting the citizens or the social partners concerned.
The three Trojan horses
The three Trojan horses they consist of hundreds of pages between which lines and quibbles hides the go-ahead for the use of genetically modified materials in agriculture and horticulture. No cure the potential impact on biodiversity of their deliberate release into the environment. The three acts of the government - sent to Parliament as a matter of urgency, on 2.11.20, for the opinions of the competent Commissions - contain:
- 'rules for the production and marketing of propagating material and fruit plants and of vegetables’,
- 'rules on production for the purpose of marketing and marketing of seed products’,
- 'rules for the production and marketing of propagating material of the grapevines'. All three justified by the need to adapt national legislation to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 and Regulation (EU) 2017/625'(2,3).
The hidden enemies
The hidden enemies in the three Trojan horses they are always the same. Rules that contemplate the production and marketing of GMOs and NTBs, as well as the attribution of rights on the aforementioned plant organisms. In contrast to the provisions of Legislative Decree 212/01 which, in the disciplinary 'the marketing of seed products and the common catalog of varieties of agricultural plant species":
- affirms the dutiful application of the 'precautionary principle referred to in Article 174.2 of the Treaty of Amsterdam'. For the precise purpose 'to ensure the protection of human health and the environment'(Article 1.1),
- prescribes the adoption of 'suitable measures to ensure that crops deriving from seed products of genetically modified varieties do not come into contact with crops deriving from traditional seed products and do not cause biological damage to the surrounding environment, taking into account the agro-ecological, environmental and pedoclimatic characteristics'(Article 1.2),
- excludes registration in the national register and obliges MiPAAF to notify the European Commission of the marketing ban in cases where they are not adopted 'all appropriate measures to avoid harmful effects on human health and the environment, provided for by the same legislative decree, as well as by the precautionary principle, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Carthagena Biosecurity Protocol'(articles 7.1, 9.1-2, 16). (4)
Biodiversity at risk
La UN Convention on biological diversity - adopted in 1992 at the 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro - recognizes at an international level the irreplaceable value of biological diversity for the evolution of life on earth and the survival of humanity. The Convention, signed by 192 countries and by the European Community itself, was ratified by Italy with law 124/94.
The International Treaty for Phytogenetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2001) was in turn signed and ratified from Italy with
law 101/04. However, biodiversity continues to be eroded and severely threatened by unsustainable agri-food chains (e.g. GM soy, palm) and inadequate policies, even in Europe. (5)
Dangers for health and the environment
The 2015/412 / EU put an end to three decades of debates between the European Commission and the adhering countries opposed to the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment. (6) By recognizing the power of Member States to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of GMOs on their territories. Indeed, both GMOs and NBTs present serious risks to health (human and animal) and the environment, as shown in a recent scientific review.
EU member states they can therefore decide independently whether to privilege the protection of their ecosystems and the health of their citizens over the interests of the global monopolists of seeds and pesticides (the so-called Big 4). Or whether to follow the orders of the Corporation that still poison agricultural systems and populations with pericolosiindeed very dangerous cocktail of agrotoxic.
The Big Scam
'GMO, The Big Scam' it's a short one ebook to which reference is made to demonstrate some elements to reflect on:
- the sole purpose of almost all the GMOs used in agriculture is to make those plants only resistant to one or more agrotoxicants. As the MON 87429, resistant to glyphosate, glufosinate ammonium and dicamba,
- the consumption actual agrotoxicants on GMO cultivated fields result more than double compared to those on the basis of which the risk assessments were carried out, which in turn were vitiated by scientific fraud that the authorities insist on ignoring,
- the higher costs of production that derive from the abuse of agrochemistry are not absorbed or by phenomenal increases in yields, nor by prices recognized to farmers. Who, in the perspective of saving on the workforce, find themselves transferring much greater resources to the giants of pesticides and seeds.
Biotechnology and food sovereignty
Ultimately, the blunder Biotech has resulted in abandoning the good agronomic practices of all time, from rotation to green manure. But the devastation of ecosystems has resulted in acute toxicity in agricultural systems, as demonstrated by the scientific studies conducted in the USA.
The destruction of soils thus aggravates dependence on the empire of evil, always ready to devise new synthetic fertilizers to emulate what the earth no longer offers and new GMOs, such as NBTs. Yet another bluff, as seen. In a maelstrom that effectively transfers food sovereignty from farmers to global pesticide and seed monopolists. Which, among other things - as pointed out in the ebook 'GMOs, the Big Scam' - are perfectly able to influence yields in agriculture, from year to year. Imperialism.
#ItalyNoGMO
We citizens and associations who firmly believe in the need to contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs) in the UN Agenda 2030 we are strongly opposed to any purpose of introducing any type of genetically modified organism into Italian agriculture. #ItaliaNoOGM!
We are wary therefore the Italian Parliament and the government from adopting any autonomous decision on these issues, which concern everyone's life and the future of Italian agriculture. With respect for democracy, any reform of the status quo in the matter of GMOs must be preceded by wide dissemination and public consultation.
Dario Dongo
Note
(1) DL 279/04, converted into law 5/05. Urgent provisions to ensure coexistence between transgenic, conventional and organic forms of agriculture. Article 8
(2) EU Reg. 2016/2031, on protective measures against plant pests. Consolidated text as of 14.12.19 on https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016R2031&qid=1606603566861
(3) EU Reg. 2017/625, on official controls and other official activities carried out to ensure the application of legislation on food and feed, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. Consolidated text as of 14.12.19 on https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32017R0625&qid=1606603760853
(4) Legislative Decree 212/01. Implementation of directives 98/95 / EC and 98/96 / EC concerning the marketing of seed products, the common catalog of varieties of agricultural plant species and related controls. https://parlamento16.openpolis.it/atto/documento/id/19232
(5) Dario Dongo. CAP, pesticides and biodiversity. Report of the EU Court of Auditors. GIFTS (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.7.20/XNUMX/XNUMX, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/progresso/pac-pesticidi-e-biodiversità-relazione-della-corte-dei-conti-ue
(6) EU Dir. 2015/412, amending Directive 2001/18 / EC as regards the possibility for Member States to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their territory https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32015L0412&qid=1606608822744
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Mountain agronomist among organic farmers and breeders, he pursues the safeguarding and enhancement of agricultural biodiversity, promoting territories with the peculiarities, especially human, that characterize them. He is the author of catalogs and atlases on indigenous agricultural productions. Spokesperson of the Biodistretto del Monte Amiata, he collaborates with all the Tuscan Biodistricts.
Doctor of Administration Sciences. Graduating in Circular Economy
Doctor of Administration Sciences. Majoring in Circular Economy. Writer
