The MEPs and the governments of the Member States are preparing for a final betrayal of their voters with the ‘deregulation’ of the new GMOs, or NGTs (New Genomic Techniques), in the exclusive interest of the four giants that control over 70% of the global market of pesticides and seeds. (1)
The ‘Big 4’ Bayer (Monsanto), Corteva (Dow, DuPont), ChemChina (Syngenta, Longping) and BASF will thus be able to extend their monopoly over every plant subjected to even minimal genetic modification. So they can register their patents and exacerbate both production costs and the enslavement of farmers. (2)
As if this were not enough – and this is the difference between ‘traditional’ GMOs and new GMOs – the latter will be able to be deliberately released into the environment without a prior assessment by EFSA of their safety for ecosystems, including agricultural ecosystems, biodiversity, and public health.
1) GMO, the current regulation
Old and new GMOs, according to the current rules, must be authorised at EU level in relation to the two distinct phases of:
– deliberate release into the environment, i.e. sowing and cultivation
– use in the production of feed and food.
Member States retain the power to restrict or prohibit the cultivation, not also the marketing of GMO products. Thus, for example, in Italy
– it is forbidden to grow GMO soya, corn and rapeseed
– GMOs grown elsewhere may be used to produce food and feed, provided they are varieties authorised in the EU.
2) New GMOs, the ‘deregulation’ project
The European Commission, as we have seen, has proposed to eliminate risk assessment on new GMOs (NGTs) of ‘category 1’, i.e. those that have undergone no more than 20 genetic manipulations (excluding those designed to resist herbicides). And to minimise the risk assessment for all others.
The European Parliament approved this proposal, renouncing the risk assessment even if the new category GMOs alter the function of genes and biochemical pathways, or lead to an increase in the levels of known toxins and allergens. Limiting themselves to providing for their traceability and labelling. Thus the giants will be able to risk any genetic engineering experiment, without worrying about verifying the safety of the seeds for agricultural production, the environment, human and animal health.
The European Council however, has so far failed to reach the qualified majority required to approve the Commission’s proposal and start negotiations with the Commission and Parliament. Indeed, some Member States remain opposed to the idea of:
– losing food sovereignty, since the proposed regulation excludes the possibility of restricting or banning the cultivation of new GMOs on national territories
– forcing farmers to pay royalties to patent holders even in cases of accidental contamination of their crops with new GMOs
– do not provide protection or compensation for damage caused to farmers due to accidental contamination that can jeopardize the integrity of their crops.
3) New GMOs, final betrayal
Swedish MEP Jessica Pollfjärd (European People’s Party), has decided to put the deregulation proposal for which she is rapporteur to a vote in the Strasbourg Assembly at first reading on 24 April 2024. With the aim of ‘blocking’ the position of the outgoing European Parliament and binding the MEPs of the next legislature to continue negotiations on this basis.
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) has meanwhile been delegated to evaluate the safety risks of the new ‘category 1’ GMOs which have been highlighted both by hundreds of independent scientists and by public authorities in France (ANSES, Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail) and Germany (BfN, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation). (3,4)
4) MEPs and the Italian government at the service of multinationals
The European elections are approaching and the MEPs of the large Italian parties in power and in opposition – Fratelli d’Italia, Lega, Forza Italia, PD – have so far followed the orders of Coldiretti and the other large agricultural confederations, arm in arm with the multinational seed and agro-pharmaceutical companies that want to standardise production and thus destroy the competitiveness of Italian and European family and peasant farms.
The ‘productivist’ model that they all want to impose on our farmers is only worth, as will be seen in the next paragraph, to enrich the four ‘corporations’ mentioned in the introduction, as well as Federconsorzi 2 alias CAI SpA which in turn controls the Italian Seed Company SIS SpA. Which has been condemned by the Regional Administrative Court for unfair commercial practices to the detriment of farmers, as we have seen, and is now also owned by ENI (5,6).
Combination, both ENI, CAI SpA and SIS are members of the Coldiretti Italian Supply Chain which is chaired by MEP Paolo De Castro, the first to have announced the desire to deregulate new GMOs already in 2019, at the beginning of the European legislature which now turns at the end. (7)
5) Farmers in slavery
The system set up by the multinationals in synergy with Coldiretti & Co. is destroying family and peasant farms, which represent 94,8% of the total number of farms in the European Union. 37% of European farms have been closed and/or sold over the last XNUMX years precisely because of this ‘productivist’ model:
– production costs, starting from agricultural inputs supplied by multinationals, continue to rise, while product selling prices remain stagnant
– farmers, to survive below-cost sales, they are forced to cut every possible expense (starting with the workforce, and thus breaking their backs from before dawn to after sunset)
– the farmers were then persuaded to produce more, invest in monocultures (and thus buy more inputs from the same multinationals), go into debt to rent more land and buy new machinery. At their own peril, since insurance and ‘de minimis’ aid cover only a fraction of the damage caused by weather events and wildlife
– the big agricultural confederations and traitorous politicians meanwhile push ahead with free trade treaties, most recently with Chile and Kenya, (8) to allow zero-duty imports without tariff quotas and thus unfair competition from the other four giants (ABCD: Archer-Daniel Midlands, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfuss) who instead dominate the global commodities market
– standardization of cereals, legumes, fruit and vegetables which will be fueled by the new GMOs, in making the biodiversity that characterizes our agri-food traditions disappear, making local farmers ‘replaceable’ with those willing to offer the products at the best price. And no one will be able to compete with the economies of scale of the same giants who in the meantime are (also) investing in land.
6) #UnitedFarmers, farmers and citizens, the protest continues
The protest of #UnitedFarmers and citizens must continue until politics proves that it listens to them:
– reject any hypothesis of ‘deregulation’ of GMOs, which Italian consumers have never wanted (although imported GMO soya is still used in the supply chains of almost all PDO and PGI cured meats and cheeses), (9)
– guarantee farmers and food processing companies a fair price to continue providing healthy, good and fair food for all
– free Italian farmers, breeders and shepherds from Coldiretti’s slavery for the management of company files. (10)
#PeaceEarthDignity – the movement to which the writer adheres, running as a candidate in the North-East constituency in the European elections of 6-9 June 2024 – pursues these and other priority objectives, already shared in a specific programme. (11)
#CleanSpades #Égalité
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Seeds, the 4 masters of the world. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.1.19
(2) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. New GMOs, NGTs. Green light from Strasbourg to deregulation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 9.2.24
(3) Dario Dongo. NGTs, new GMOs. Scientists and ANSES expose the risks of deregulation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 23.12.23
(4) BfN (2024). For a science-based regulation of plants from new genetic techniques https://tinyurl.com/tczcrm3b
(5) Dario Dongo. Senator Cappelli wheat and unfair commercial practices, confirmation by TAR Lazio. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.11.23
(6) Eni Natural Energies enters the capital of Società Italiana Sementi (BF Group). Finance community. 20.2.24 https://financecommunity.it/eni-natural-energies-entra-nel-capitale-di-societa-italiana-sementi-gruppo-bf/
(7) Dario Dongo. Senator Cappelli wheat and unfair commercial practices, confirmation by TAR Lazio. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.11.23
(8) Dario Dongo. Green light for EU agreements with Chile and Kenya. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 28.2.24
(9) Dario Dongo. The crimes of the Amazon in our PDOs. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.7.19
(10) Dario Dongo. #FarmersUnited, the manifesto 2 March 2024. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(11) Dario Dongo. Peace, Earth and Dignity. Our movement in the 2024 European elections. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.3.24
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
