Italy Says No to GM Sponsorship
by Francesca Noceti
5:00 p.m. May. 5, 2000 PDT  Wired News


MILAN, Italy -- After this week's war declaration against genetically
modified products, Italy's Green agriculture minister on Friday revoked next
month's sponsorship for Tebio, an international exhibition and congress on
biotechnology.

Plant biotechnology, which at is the crux of the recent controversy about
the production and diffusion of GM foods, will be one of the main topics
discussed at the Tebio exhibition in Genoa on May 24-26.

Agriculture Minister Pecoraro Scanio said that in light of the new
philosophy of the ministry, which favors precautionary principles when
related to biotechnology, the sponsorship would have been inopportune.

The minister said that withdrawing the sponsorship to Tebio will have no
effect on import trade of GM foods. However, the Italian government has
asked that all products carry a label describing the processing modalities.

The minister's opposition to Tebio and GM foods is not only related to
health and environmental concerns.

Italy is a country of "quality and typical products," and to accept a policy
of genetically engineering crops would eventually damage the Italian food
industry, he said.
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