The deregulation of new GMOs, aka New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), faces an obstacle thanks to the hesitations expressed by 10 Member States at today’s AGRIFISH (Agriculture and Fisheries) Council meeting. An opportunity to reflect on the impact of the project, welcomed by the GMO-Free Italy Coalition, which brings together 38 peasant, organic farming, environmentalist and consumer organisations, in which Égalité also participates. (1)
New GMOs, member states hesitate on deregulation
AGRIFISH Council – the Council of Agriculture Ministers of the EU Member States – at its meeting on 11 December 2023 did not reach the qualified majority for the approval of the proposal put forward by the Spanish Presidency to eliminate labelling, traceability and risk assessment for NGTs (new GMO) of ‘category 1’. (2)
The qualified majority (favorable vote of 55% of member states representing at least 65% of European citizens) was not achieved thanks to the opposition or abstention of the representatives of ten countries. Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia.
Deregulation of new GMOs, what are the risks?
The main concerns on the deregulation proposal under discussion in Brussels and Strasbourg concern:
– the absence of the guarantee of being able to separate organic supply chains from GMO ones to protect them from contamination, (3)
– the exclusion of the food sovereignty of member countries, understood as the possibility of restricting or prohibiting the cultivation of GMOs on their national territories,
– the risk that the contamination of fields with new GMOs will be followed by the economic claims of the holders of the relevant patents towards farmers,
– the risks to public health, biodiversity and ecosystems that the scientific community continues to highlight. (4)
Danger escaped?
The hesitations expressed to the AGRIFISH Council lead to hope that the political examination of the proposal for the deregulation of new GMOs will be postponed to the next legislature.
The Spanish presidency of the Council could nevertheless insist on the approval of the text at the next AGRIFISH meeting scheduled for 22 December 2023.
Italy sold out to lobbies
Italy ‘no GMO’ has always supported strict regulation of genetic engineering products. You even successfully promoted, in 2015, the modification of EU rules to guarantee Member States the possibility of preserving biodiversity by introducing national restrictions and bans on GMO cultivation on their territories.
Italian minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida has, however, ‘changed sides’. Thus Italy, historically opposed to the introduction of GMOs in its agriculture, has become a supporter. As always in line with Coldiretti, which in turn has embraced the positions of the global monopolists of pesticides and seeds. (5)
Agri-food dictatorship
Big Ag’s goal – carried out through the European Commission and the associated governments of many Member States – is to deprive the States themselves, as well as producers and consumers of any possibility of choice. To establish a new agri-food dictatorship where the new GMOs must also plague the Old Continent, to generate profits and positional income for the owners of the respective patents.
‘The abolition of labelling it would in fact deprive the consumer of free choice, while the lack of traceability and severe safeguard measures would deprive farmers of any defense against the biocontamination of their fields. For GMO free supply chains (and especially for organic) it would be the end, because any guarantee of quality would disappear‘, warns the GMO-Free Italy Coalition.
Old deceptive promises
The false narrative which in the 90s of the last century presented GMOs as the solution to world hunger is now being revived and updated with new GMOs which would make it possible to obtain plants resistant to climate change, less in need of pesticides and more productive.
The only certainty it is instead the development and diffusion of new ‘herbicide resistant’ GMOs (i.e MON 87428), that is, designed to resist the massive use of pesticides, herbicides and other agrotoxics. It is no coincidence that they are produced by the same ‘Big 4’ (Monsanto, Corteva, BASF and Syngenta), the global monopolists of pesticides and seeds. (6)
United against aggression
The Coalition GMO Free Italy urges farmers, consumers and political representatives who have the general interest at heart to strengthen their commitment to prevent the deregulation of old and new genetically modified organisms, at least in Europe. Apply the precautionary principle and claim the right to quality food, grown ecologically.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) The GMO-Free Italy Coalition includes the Association of Consumer Users, Agora of the Inhabitants of the Earth, AIAB, AltragricolturaBio, ASCI, Assobio, Association for Biodynamic Agriculture, Italian Rural Association, Attac Italia, Centro Internazionale Crocevia, Cultivare Sharing, ZeroOgm Coordination, CUB, Seed Custodians, Deafal, Egalité, Equivita, European Consumers, Fairwatch, National Pro Natura Federation, Federbio, FIRAB, Seminare il Futuro Foundation, Greenpeace, ISDE, Legambiente, LIPU, Navdanya International, RIES – Rete Italiana Economia Solidale, Ress, Seed Vicious, Slow food Italia, Associazione Terra!, Terra Nuova ONG, Transform! Italy, USB, Verdi Environment and Society, WWF
(2) Dario Dongo. New GMOs, NGTs. The European Commission’s deregulation proposal. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.7.23
(3) Dario Dongo. New GMOs in organic farming? The proposal of the European Parliament. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 28.10.23
(4) Antoniou, M.N., Robinson, C., Castro, I. et al. Agricultural GMOs and their associated pesticides: misinformation, science, and evidence. Environ Sci Eur 35, 76 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-023-00787-4
(5) Agriculture and Fisheries Council. Public session (morning). Monday 11 December 2023 09:56 https://video.consilium.europa.eu/event/en/27260
(6) Alessandra Mei. Via Campesina unmasks the rhetoric on ‘new GMOs’ in 12 points. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.6.23
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
