Italy Says Will Not Tolerate GM Seed Contamination

Reuters 24jan02

ROME - - Italy will not tolerate the accidental contamination of seeds with genetic material and needs to invest at least 50 million euros to enforce its policy, Farm Minister Giovanni Alemanno said on Thursday.

"The position that we have on seeds is a position of 'zero tolerance' within the technical limits," Alemanno told a news conference ahead of the country's spring crop sowing campaign, due to start in the next few weeks.

The minister also said that civil servants would meet farmers, seed industry officials and consumers in the coming weeks to chart a new strategy on agriculture and the marketing of genetically modified (GM) seeds.

Alemanno, a member of the center-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said authorities would need to invest at least 50 million euros in customs and other controls to guarantee seeds were free of genetic material.

He did not elaborate.

Italian farmers expect to sow some 1.5 million hectares to maize and soybeans this spring, farm groups say.

Seed industry officials say it is very hard to ensure the complete absence of genetic material in seed shipments.

Environmental group Greenpeace welcomed Alemanno's declaration of "zero tolerance" and called for systematic controls by authorities to prevent accidental contamination of seed stocks.

"Now the minister should make sure that the zero threshold is really adhered to in the spring sowings," Greenpeace spokesman Luca Colombo said.

EU countries have imposed a moratorium on imports of biotech food, tolerating only up to one percent level of GMOs in each product in response to public concerns about the safety of such technology.

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