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La guerra degli OGM

War of GMOs

by: Alessio Mannucci

The EU Commission has accelerated on GMOs: new applications for authorization in Europe - residues of transgenic potato of the multinational BASF to produce feed with three other Monsanto's biotech corn - will meet soon on the board of Ministers Agriculture and Health in Europe.

not alone. On the occasion of the European Committee for Regulating GMOs, held on 19 and 20 December (2007) in Brussels, the EU executive proposed the green light for another GM maize - the "GA21" - showing that, at least for marketing (not growing), the licensing system is working as requested by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Europe has had time until 11 January 2008 to comply with the findings of the panel (arbitration body) that have turned the U.S., Canada and Argentina to condemn the slow pace of European procedures for authorization, the three countries will ask the WTO for sanctions against the EU could reach - according to early assessments in Brussels - the amount of $ 600 million, with consequences on trade of European countries most opposed to GMOs.

So, last December, the EU executive has relaunched the debate on the GM: 27 partners have three months to decide. You must first decide the go-ahead in Europe the use of residues from the processing of "superpatata" - "EH92-527-1 " - also called Amflora - in feed (intended for processing into starch for use industry. Its introduction in the European market could generate annual profits per circa 30 milioni di euro, oltre ad aprire la strada ad altri prodotti bio-tech, inclusa la patata resistente alla peronospora). Poi, i ministri dovranno pronunciarsi su tre ibridi di mais destinati essenzialmente alla alimentazione animale. Si tratta del “Mon863xNk603”, del “Mon863xMon810” e del “Mon863xMon810xNK603”, tutti basati sul Mon863, che ha mostrato segni di tossicità. Su questi dossier, Francia e Germania si erano astenuti di votare a livello tecnico mentre l'Italia aveva votato contro.

Nei cassetti della Commissione UE ci sono inoltre altre due procedure in attesa di esame: una relativa al cotone “LLCotton25” e l'altra alla soia “A2704- 12” , entrambi della Bayer CropScience, modificati per resistere agli erbicidi, che hanno già ottenuto il parere favorevole dell'Agenzia Europea per la Sicurezza Alimentare (EFSA), in barba al principio di precauzione.

Il commissario dell'Ambiente, Stavros Dimas, dovrebbe proporre uno stop all'autorizzazione alla coltivazione di due dei mais transgenici per motivi ambientali, in base a numerosi studi scientifici che lasciano aperta la questione dei rischi elevati a lungo termine. Nel mirino del commissario sono il "Bt11" della svizzera Sygenta e l' “ 1507” della statunitense Pioneer. I rischi riguarderebbero soprattutto alcune farfalle, in particolare la monarca. Nella bozza si citano studi according to which the cultivation of this maize could lead to "a potential irreversible damage to the environment" and an "unacceptable level of risk" with consequences on other aquatic insects, and then the birds that feed on them.

Dimas's position, however, appears quite isolated within the EU executive. In particular, he made his voice heard pro-GM European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, who tried to terrorize producers and consumers of meat. So the battle continues Italian, allied to France, to expand the front of the EU countries opposed to GM openings, with delivery to EU Commission, as announced last week by Agriculture Minister Paolo Di Castro, the three million signatures against GMOs in Italy.

Since the end of the moratorium in 2004, 15 GMOs authorized in Europe, bringing the total to thirty biotech products that can be marketed in the EU. But only one, the corn "Mon 810" , approved in the late nineties, is for cultivation. European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, a possible moratorium on new permits, as requested by several countries including Italy and France , would have "important consequences" on the production of meat, which should "leave Europe ".

German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said he would "rather immediately stop new approvals and see if the procedure is adequate." Fischer Boel said that the price of corn, largely used for animal feed in the EU, is now 55% higher in Europe than in the United States. Do not accept new GMOs already approved in the Americas feed producers (corn and soybeans in the U.S., Argentina and Brazil) would thus risking a European crisis of supply, "the result would be that the production of meat should leave Europe." We

blackmail itself.

Article Date: January 2008

Link Related Article:

Genetic Rights Council

European Food Safety Authority

Other related articles:

GMO Corn toxic

Monopoly multi-genomic

referendum on GMOs

E-mail: Alessio Mannucci