The Council of State gives the go ahead for the first OGM maize field

A decision of the Council of State requires the Minister of the Agriculture to issue within 90 days,  authorisation to seed varieties of OGM maize which are listed within a common catalogue. This decision overturns the reflections made at institutional levels about the opening of biotech seeding in our country. On 21st January last, the State-Regions Conference decided to postpone the approval of the guidelines relevant to the coexistence of conventional, organic and genetically modified cultivations. But two days prior, the judges had already accepted a petition from Silvano Dalla Libera, the farmer from Friuli and vice-president of Futuragra, an association of 500 land owners pro OGM who have been for some time leading, a legal battle in favour of the introduction of OGM in Italy. Exactly his land, located in the town of Vivaro (Pordenone) will house next April the first OGM seeding. According to the Minister of Agriculture, Luca Zaia who is opposed, as are most of the regions to the introduction of OGM in open fields, the procedures that must be followed for the cultivation of these seeds, must be checked by a Technical Commission which is unlikely to give a positive opinion as they don't have the technical specifications of OGM cultivation methods. For further information.