The question
of the adventitious presence of GMO in conventional seeds is
the issue to which our Association devotes most of its energy.
In Italy, GMO varieties are not allowed and what's more, in
the European Union the matter of the adventitious presence is
not regulated either. Our Minister of Agriculture pursues the
policy of the "zero tolerance".
Another very important issue is the
initiative recently promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture
and by some Regions, aiming at setting a seed plan in order to
increase the national seed production. AIS would expect that
such a plan could involve all the seed industry and above all
that it could allow our country to improve itself,
particularly in the organization and management of the whole
sector. I fear however that this initiative, motivated by the
diffusion of GMO, will merely limit itself to this.
We pay a special attention to the
quality policies and today in particular to the provisions
about the traceability of the agro-alimentary products. The EC
regulation n. 178/2002 provides for all the raw materials to
be traced from 2005 on and seeds are involved too.
Moreover, AIS is endeavouring to
improve and develop the issue of the communication, also
through its web site, a very important mean to supply
information about the seed activity. If we want to avoid
criticism and unjustified accusations to our work, we have to
present it better and with more attention.
