Italian court probes 10 seed companies over GMOs

[Guest guest]

http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/17209

 

Italian court probes 10 seed companies over GMOs

 

 

ITALY: August 8, 2002

 

 

ROME - An Italian court is investigating 10 seed companies for allegedly using

maize containing genetic material in violation of Italian law, a judicial

official said. The court in Turin launched the probe late on Tuesday after state

seed agency Ense tested samples from seed companies for genetically modified

organisms (GMOs) and found some of them to be positive, the official, who asked

not to be identified, said.

 

 

Italy has zero tolerance towards GM seeds, even though the European Union's

Scientific Committee on Plants and other groups say the presence of GM material

in seeds is inevitable because of unintentional contamination in the production

process. The official did not identify the companies, which are under

investigation for alleged commercial fraud.

Newspapers said on Wednesday they included five Italian concerns and five

foreign multinationals, including Italian subsidiaries of U.S. groups Monsanto

and Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a unit of chemical giant DuPont Co. .

 

A spokesman for Monsanto's Lodi-based Italian subsidiary said it had asked Ense

to analyse its maize seeds from the United States and Turkey after the agency

found samples containing positive traces of GMOs. Edoardo Ferri said Monsanto

Agricoltura Italia SpA marketed only conventional maize seeds in Italy, but that

a minimal, accidental presence of GMOs was inevitable.

 

" As far as we are concerned, absolute purity is impossible in the seed

industry, " he told Reuters. " Absolute zero is impossible in agriculture. " Ferri

said Monsanto had still not received formal notification of the investigation

from the judicial authorities on Wednesday.

 

Seeds containing more than 0.1 percent and up to one percent of genetic material

must be labelled, he said. Less than 0.1 percent is a " technical zero " , he

added. Company spokesmen for Pioneer Hi-Bred Italia S.r.L. were not available

for comment.

 

Leonardo Vingiani, director of Assobiotech, which groups biotech companies in

Italy, also said the accidental presence of GMOs in seeds was inevitable. He

said he had still not received word on Wednesday from any CEOs among

Assobiotech's membership about the investigation.

 

Italian farm groups said they were concerned over risks that farmers had sown

maize and soy seeds contaminated with genetic material, and wanted guarantees

that their seeds were legal.

 

" We are very worried about this situation, " said Confagricoltura, which

represents big agricultural producers. " We want clear guarantees for farmers who

have sowed some 1.4 million hectares (3.459 million acres) with maize and soy in

Italy, " it said in a statement.

 

 

 

 

Story by David Brough

 

 

REUTERS NEWS PICTURE SERVICE