Lopa Catapano: 'Defending consumer freedom comes first, fighting GMOs means preserving our biodiversity'

GMOs are useless and harmful, this is why we have been reiterating our support for environmental associations for the valorization and promotion of Italian agri-food for years and our opposition to the entry of genetically modified organisms into Italy. It is important to protect agri-food production at local and national level and preserve it from the risks associated with GMOs, enhancing the excellence and quality of national production. CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) is a free trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. This is an agreement that provides for the almost total elimination of customs duties between the two partners, with the aim of saving exporters money and offering consumers a wider choice. In reality, in the name of the market, the high standards of food safety and environmental protection adopted over the years by the European Union are being abandoned. This is why breeders, farmers, consumers, trade unionists and environmentalists are against a treaty that would lead to an indiscriminate liberalization and deregulation of trade with a real sell-off of Made in Italy. It is precisely on CETA that the alarm must be raised, an agreement that is nothing more than a TTIP in disguise must be unmasked. In reality, despite the alleged expected benefits, CETA essentially introduces a mechanism of uncritical deregulation of trade and investments that does not benefit the cause of free trade and significantly undermines the quality, competitiveness and identity of the national agricultural system. A reasoning that will be reflected in the long term and on a global scale on our choices regarding the exploitation of resources. We must implement an action aimed at informing and sensitizing the Italian Government and Parliamentarians by asking them to prevent its provisional entry into force, in the direction of terms of trade based on economic democracy and the protection of the rights of consumers and businesses. The fear is that this rule will lay the foundation for the legal preeminence of large multinationals to the detriment of government sovereignty. For these reasons, and there are many others, we are perplexed by the Government's new position. Thus, on the sidelines of the news of these last few days, the National Directors Rosario Lopa, member of the National Department of Environment, Territory, Tourism and Agri-food, and Alfredo Catapano, member of the Department of Trade and SMEs of the National Movement for Sovereignty. For the National Secretary of the Mns (National Movement for Sovereignty) Marco Cerreto: Ceta is an agreement that is of no use to Italy, it does not provide for any principle of reciprocity and we will be invaded by products containing estrogens and animal flours that are currently banned in Europe". Cerreto is seriously worried. Already now, Italy has only been recognized with 41 products with a community protection mark (DOP, IGP, STG) out of a total of 288 protected products. Italian sounding products such as Parmesan will coexist with Parmigiano Reggiano and will not be the only example. With the consequent devaluation of the originality of our products". As for GMOs, we remain equally astonished about the openness – on an issue on which Italy has always distinguished itself, starting from the battles undertaken since 2002 and largely shared by most organizations in the agricultural world. Because fighting GMOs means preserving our biodiversity. Evidently someone thinks they are protecting not Made in Italy but the interests of multinationals.