Europe Starts Over Again with GMO Ban
Staff Writer - July 10, 2005

"Italy is free to refuse cultivation of GM crops, thus respecting the desires of the majority of agricultural entrepreneurs as well as consumers, who do not want biotech products on their dinner tables," said Coldiretti, commenting positively the Environmental Ministry Council's decision to back safeguarding measures against the spread of GMOs within the countries of the European Union.

According to Coldiretti, the decision made by the majority of the ministers against the Commission proposal, Europe starts over again with the GMO ban, as a response to the request of food and environment safety expressed by European citizens.

"It's an important decision, made with precaution in mind and in respect of the requests made by local administrations. This is highlighted," says Coldiretti, "by the fact that in Italy the municipalities that choose to be GMO free went from 1,856 in mid December 2004 to 2,175 in June 2005, or 15% more in just six months."

These results highlight the strong opposition by Italian citizens, as well as by regional institutions and local administrations to apply biotechnology to food products, in the general interest of the national economy, the environment and the society as a whole.

"The objective of the 'Liberi da Ogm' ('Free from GMOs') campaign for 2005," concluded Coldiretti, "is to have 50% of the Italian municipalities protect their farming land from genetically modified element contamination, with over 4,000 local administrations adopting specific laws to forbid the production of biotechnology-modified crops."

The results of Coldiretti's 'Free from GMO' campaign
Region	Total Municipalities	Municipalities with GMO-free rules	% Municipalities GMO –free	Regions with Rules for GMO-free Agriculture
Aosta valley	74	6	8
Piedmont	1,209	304	25	Opposed to GMO Agriculture
Liguria	235	44	19	Yes - Regional Rule
Lombardy	1,547	194	13
Trentino-Alto Adige	339	39	11	Yes - Alto-Adige
Veneto	580	177	31
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	220	79	36
Emilia-Romagna	342	102	30	Yes
Tuscany	287	92	32	Yes
Marches	246	82	33	Yes
Umbria	92	43	47	Yes
Latium	378	171	45	Yes
Abruzzo	305	151	50	Yes
Molise	136	45	33
Campania	551	196	36	In deliberation
Apulia	258	89	35	Yes
Basilicata	131	58	44	Yes
Calabria	409	67	16	Yes
Sicily	390	98	25	In deliberation
Sardinia	377	137	36
Italy, total	8,106	2,175	26.8

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