New free GMOs:the European Parliament approves with the decisive support of Italy

The European Parliament has officially adopted its mandate for negotiations with Member States on the proposed deregulation of so-called new GMOs.The votes in favor were 307, 263 against and 41 abstentions.The vote of the Italian MEPs was decisive, with the conservative deputies in the majority clearly in favor of the measure.The front of the Socialists and Democrats and, therefore, the delegation of the Democratic Party were split in half.The only ones who were united and opposed were the deputies of the 5 Star Movement who once again followed the Green line.The ball therefore now passes to the Member States, whose Agriculture Ministers do not yet have a common position on the issue.At present, all plants obtained with new genomic techniques (NGT) are subject to the same rules as conventional genetically modified organisms, but the aim of this legislative process is to facilitate approval for at least part of the products obtained with these techniques.

The criticism from environmentalist associations is ready, according to which the European Parliament "has approved a legislative proposal that allows multinationals to market new GMOs without any type of safety control for the impacts on human health and the environment and which eliminates liability for companies selling new GMOs and the farmers who grow them in case of damage."For the moment, Strasbourg has adopted the negotiating mandate while maintaining the proposal advanced by the European Commission.In particular, the attempt is to create two new categories of genetically modified crops:NGT1, to be considered equivalent to normal crop varieties and therefore de facto deregulated, and NGT2 which would instead be assimilated to conventional GMOs and as such rigorously evaluated and monitored before approval.On how to distinguish them, the EU executive proposed that an NGT plant can be considered equivalent to unmodified ones "when it differs from the parent plant by no more than 20 genetic modifications".A passage that the European Chamber, however, aims to review.Rather than talking about overall changes, the limit should go to no more than three genetic modifications for each plant DNA sequence, while all those plants with alterations that would have an effect similar to that of conventional genome editing, transgenesis, should be excluded.

The principle according to which we aim to change the rules is linked to the fact that new GMOs, unlike first generation ones, are produced using biotechnology that does not involve the actual insertion of foreign genes.An undoubted achievement of science which, according to European legislators, could contribute to the sustainability of food production, increasing the resilience of crops to climate change and reducing the use of pesticides.However, the debate on their actual safety, especially in terms of social impact and on biodiversity, it is still alive on a scientific level.The spread of genetically modified crops, as they are intimately linked to impactful industrial agricultural practices, appears for example in stark contrast with the protection of traditional, extensive agriculture.The commercial imposition, and political support, of transgenic varieties therefore directly threatens local subsistence agricultural practices, as well as the biological diversity linked to them.Not to mention that the seeds obtained with these biotechnologies would mostly be under the dominion of large companies in the sector - such as Bayer, BASF, Syngenta and Corteva - which have not surprisingly already presented 139 patent applications.The risk is therefore that the market becomes increasingly concentrated in favor of a handful of multinationals that promote aggressive agriculture that is anything but environmentally friendly.

In all of this, the Meloni government has already chosen a side.In addition to the votes in the community offices, in June, for example, the right-wing majority gave the go ahead to field testing of organisms deriving from assisted evolution technologies.A novelty for Italy which, always strictly adhering to the precautionary principle, has for decades prohibited both the cultivation and testing of genetically modified organisms on its territory.A controversial position which, among other things, contrasts with the much vaunted one protection of Made in Italy agri-food excellence, including the increasingly developed Italian organic sector.If nothing else - as underlined by the GMO-free Italy Coalition - traceability and labeling obligations have been maintained, precisely in light of the potential genetic contamination of organic agriculture, the negative effects of possible mutations off target and citizens' opposition to genetically modified food.

[by Simone Valeri]