BIOTECH: FACED WITH FALLOUT OVER CROP SEIZURES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 003481

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EUR/WE, EUR/ERA, EB/TPP/ABT
STATE PASS USDA/FAS FOR BLUM AND SIMMONS,
STATE PASS USDA/FAS FOR E JONES, OSEC, HEGWOOD
STATE PASS USTR C.NOVELLI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2013
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD EAID IT PREL TBIO WTO
SUBJECT: BIOTECH: FACED WITH FALLOUT OVER CROP SEIZURES,
MINAG ALEMANNO HINTS AT NEW MEASURES


Classified By: Ambassador Mel Sembler for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D)

Reftels Milan 465,488, 512 and 523


1. (C) SUMMARY On July 28 Ambassador met with Minister of
Agriculture Gianni Alemanno over US concerns with the GOI's
policy prohibiting minute amounts of biotech material in
conventional seed lots. Ambassador Sembler prefaced the July
28 conversation by stating that he brought up the seizure of
corn field days earlier with the Italian PM. Alemanno did
not register any reaction to this news or to the Ambassador's
editorial published in Il Sole 24 Ore on July 12, 2003.
Ambassador Sembler delivered a clear message that friction
caused by current Italian anti-biotech policies, and the
northern Italian corn crop seizures, are apt to inflame
anti-European trade irritations and provoke negative
reactions from the US Congress. The US losses in seed sales
to Italy over the past four years are precipitous. The GOI
anti-biotech policy has had a seriously detrimental effect on
the US - Italian seed trade and on its bilateral trade
relationship. Alemanno did not take responsibility for the
troubles, yet expressed his regrets. The Minister said that a
new EU Seed Directive, expected this fall, will prevent
future incidents. He refused to answer what will happen in
Italy if Brussels does not come up with an agreement. Next
season, he predicted, there will be biotech, conventional,
and organic seeds planted in Italy. We are skeptical, and as
Milan 523 reports, seizures of crops continue. End Summary


2. (C) Ambassador, EST Couns, and AgAtt met July 28, with
GOI MinAg Gianni Alemanno , and his staff responsible for
trade and biotech policy regarding food, feed, and seed.
Accompanying Alemanno were the MinAg's science advisor,
director of food quality, and diplomatic advisor, all in a
listening mode. The Minister spoke with very little
consultation with his advisors.


3. (C) Ambassador conveyed US discouragement and dismay that
the Agriculture Ministry's policy of zero tolerance for
adventitious presence (AP) in conventional seeds continue to
cause problems. The latest incident has escalated in Piemonte
with crop destruction, in Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, and
Friuli-Venezia-Giulia with crop seizures, (Reftels Milan
465, Milan 488, 512 and 523).


4. (C) Responding to the Ambassador's point that no health
or environmental reason justified destruction of the growing
corn, MinAg said that the Piemonte regional government was
legally correct to pursue its solution to the discovery of
AP in the corn crop. Referring to Lombardy, he offered that a
solution was still under consideration, including the
possibility of turning the sequestered, harvested corn into
"stocks that could be used after the AP issue is decided at
the EU level." Note: given that the corn was harvested before
tasseling, it is likely to be immature and high in moisture,
making this an unlikely alternative. Alemanno dodged
responsibility for the crop seizures by stating that he
inherited but did not create the zero tolerance policy, and
that he did not wish to become the first Italian Minister to
revoke it. Minister Alemanno made the zero tolerance more
explicit and its enforcement more stringent in its
interpretation over the past two growing seasons. He
authorized two annual regulations directing seed policy, the
2001 Seed Circular and the 2002 version, which interpret the
zero tolerance policy for AP in conventional seeds for
planting. The former restated a zero tolerance for AP in
seeds for planting, and the 2002 version eliminated ambiguity
by defining zero tolerance to the quantity of 99.99 percent
purity for seed lots. A tolerance of 0.01 percent for
biotech is difficult to achieve in seeds imported from any
country where biotech crops are produced. End Note.


5. (C) Ambassador Sembler questioned MinAg on what the GOI
would do during the Italian Presidency of the EU to address
AP tolerances in seeds for planting. He also asked, what
the GOI would do in the absence of an agreement by the EU on
seed tolerances. MINAG sought cover behind the prospect that
the EC Scientific Seed Committee will establish tolerances,
now that the work on labeling and traceability is completed.
However, Alemanno cautioned, since labeling was established
at 0.9 percent (down from the original proposal of 1
percent),he expected the thresholds for three types of seed,
according to the original proposals, to also be reduced in
order for the crop in the field to be at a lower AP than
imported food and feed grains. Emboffs questioned the


scientific justification for this math. Alemanno said that
the acceptable level for AP in corn seed might be
"proportionally" lowered from 0.3 to 0.2; for soybean seed ,
from 0.5 to 0.4 and for rapeseed from 0.7 to 0.6 in imported
conventional seeds. Organic seed, he continued, would be
held to zero biotech content, and biotech seed, 100 percent.


6. (C) When questioned further, Alemanno replied that this
proposal was hypothetical in nature. When asked whether
this formula might be political rather than scientific,
Alemanno acknowledged that thresholds could become political
if enough member states oppose the EC proposal. For Italy's
part, however, he stated that the GOI wants to adjust to EU
decisions. And what about the agricultural organizations of
Italy? The GOI wants to work with them in a confidential way,
to work out their conflicts. He agreed that Coldiretti,
Italy's largest farmer organization, is "anti GM, for zero
tolerance."


7. (C) Alemanno acknowledged that adhering to a zero
tolerance is very difficult with seeds coming "from anywhere
in the world." With regard to labeling of seeds there will
be a threshold, as yet undefined, not to restrict imports but
for labeling, as is the case for foods. Alemanno opined that
this should be the last time that his government has to face
questions on AP in conventional corn seeds.


8. (C) Ambassador Sembler was assured by Alemanno that by
next planting season, Italian farmers will have three choices
in types of cultivation: organic, conventional, and biotech.
He emphasized that Italian farmers and Italian consumers will
be able to make choices.


9. (C) Alemanno also raised coexistence. The next problem,
he opined, is to prevent mixing between zones of cultivation,
or "contamination" of organic and conventional cultivation
from contiguous areas growing GM crops "under small parcel
cultivation." He was aware of the EU Agricultural
Commissioner's interpretation that entire areas would not be
allowed to declare themselves GM-Free. When asked how a
farmer would get "permission" or have the assurance that he
will be allowed to grow a biotech crop, no details were
offered. He said that the protocols would be clear and would
allow the farmer freedom of choice, but not the freedom to
interfere with another's freedom of choice.
When pressed on the question of what policy the GOI would
pursue until such an agreement is reached, Alemanno refused
to reply saying only, "We hope to get an agreement."


10. (C) Alemannos's solution to the problem of regulating
agricultural biotechnology is to label. In the case of a
seed directive, he would prefer to not have the current
dilemma over allowable AP but to have AP labeled and let the
farmers choose their type of seed. He pointed to the current
labeling for food and feed as giving consumers a choice. He
did not comment on how the member states will reach a
consensus on the seed directive, but admitted that it will
likely be protested against by consumers and farmers alike in
Italy. He said (we agree) that Italian farmers' groups are
split, and, according to polls, most Italian consumers are
against agricultural biotech. A political choice will have
to be made, and Alemanno concluded that Italy will best reach
toward a scientific justification from the commissioner,
hopefully to be put forward by Commissioner Byrne in
September or October.


11. (C) Ambassador Sembler made the case for "someone to
take leadership" to find a solution to get out of the current
troubles with corn seed and agricultural biotechnology in
general. He advised Minister Alemanno that the U.S. Congress
is if anything more frustrated with the biotech deadlock.
AMB. Sembler also stated that "our farmers can't wait idly
for another two or three years8 before they have a chance to
gain back what they have lost in the Italian seed market.
Alemanno went back to the question of the corn seizures and
said that the acreage involved was a small fraction of total
corn acreage in Italy. While he was mathematically correct
in his assertion, Ambassador Sembler insisted that the impact
of the corn seizures was very negative and it made a
disproportionately anti-GMO mark in the media.


12. (C) Alemanno stated that labeling is the "compromise"
which will allow freedom of choice, both for consumers and
ultimately, once there is a seed law, for farmers.
Ambassador Sembler answered that market forces will work,


but only if zero tolerance for AP is not the policy governing
trade in seeds. His request to Alemanno was to create biotech
policies that will let the market work.

EMBASSY COMMENTS


13. (C) For more than two years we've pressed the GOI to
establish a reasonable AP for conventional corn and soybean
seeds, to lift the Amato Decree, and to allow farmers and
consumers choices. While leaving himself plenty of
flexibility, Alemanno did discuss specific actions that will
be taken, particularly with regard to AP for seeds. This
makes this discussion a high-water mark for our exchanges
with him. This was also the first time we've heard him say
that biotech crops could be grown in Italy next year with
Ministry approval, a statement that could portend a lifting
of the Amato decree. The seizure of northern corn fields
and the destruction of crops may mark a turning point for
Alemanno as he becomes more pragmatic and EU-oriented towards
biotechnology.


14. (C) We also found Alemanno more relaxed, more conversant
with technical aspects of seed and feed thresholds , and more
confident about EU procedures and the various regulatory
frameworks and laws coming into force over the next several
months. He had tables of test results for samples of corn in
Piemonte, and at one point drew for Ambassador a schematic
diagram of organic, conventional, and agriculture GM in an
explanation of the EU co-existence policy. Alemanno came
very close to saying we should have no further problems with
the input of U.S. feeds into Italy. We also believe he will
move toward EU approved thresholds for AP in conventional
seeds when the EC scientific committee makes its proposal
next fall. We are more skeptical of his intention to allow
Italian farmers to plant EU-approved GM corn varieties (which
would of course, mean repealing the Amato decree) in the next
planting season. We believe it more likely that the Ministry
will devise complicated procedures for permissions to plant
GM seed, using the co-existence guidelines. Those Italian
farmers who would consider planting GM seed may find
themselves in a bureaucratic strait-jacket.
Sembler


NNNN
2003ROME03481 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL