US speaker Prof. Bruce Chassy. Program in

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ETRD SENV TBIO ECON IT FAO
SUBJECT: US speaker Prof. Bruce Chassy. Program in
Northern Italy on Food Safety and GMOs. September 19-
24, 2005.

Summary: US Scientist Bruce Chassy (whose visit was
arranged by PA Milan) met with Northern Italy regional
officials, scientists and consumers to discuss the
benefits of biotech crops. Milan's regional health
officials told Chassy they would try to get regional
approval for biotech corn plantings, which they see as
essential for public health, and they noted that the
regions' deadline for a decision remained July 2006.
Similarly, other scientists from Northern Italy and
elsewhere, who Chassy met at several conferences,
agreed on the need for biotech crops and so did the
consumer group he talked to in Treviso. This program
was effective in reaching out to public opinion
through heavy and qualified media placement both at
national and local levels. Some officials from the
local regional administration started a process to
make Prof. Chassy's presentation on GMOs official
institutional information endorsed by the Region of
Lombardy. Other interlocutors expressed caution that
GMOs could destroy traditional Italian crops and
warned that the upcoming regional decisions on biotech
plantings will be made only partially on science. End
summary.


1. As part of a PA Milan U.S. Speaker Program, Prof.
Bruce Chassy, Executive Associate Director of the
Biotechnology Center, at the University of Illinois
had a very intense five-day agenda, September 19-24,
in Northern Italy - which included Milan, Venice,
Treviso and Trieste - addressing diverse audiences
from the public and private sectors. Prof. Chassy's
presentations on food safety and GMOs stressed the
natural transgenic mutation among plant species like
wheat, tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes, which are
now part of our daily diet. His presentations
effectively sought to dispel the belief that GMOs are
artificial food perceived, by Italian public opinion,
as dangerous to human health. Chassy was successful
in highlighting the potential of transgenic food to
reduce future threats to public health caused by
contaminated food and food products that do not meet
international quality and safety standards such as the
control of mycotoxins in cow milk, an important
commodity produced in the Po valley, which occupies a
broad portion of Post's consular district. Prof.
Chassy was also programmed for one day in Rome, one
day in Florence and one day in Naples (Septel).


2. The Milan and Venice programs were the most
important of the four-city tour. In Milan, the
speaker held a seminar for about 150 veterinarians
cooperating with the Lombardy Region's Department of
Health and professionals from the Lombard agricultural
private sector. He met with the Director from the
Department of Agriculture (responsible the regional
law on GMO cultivation) and high-ranking public
officials from local departments of health,
supervising animal feed in the local farming system.
In Venice, Professor Chassy participated in the "First
World Conference on the Future of Science" organized
by former Italian Ministry of Health, oncologist Prof.
Umberto Veronesi. The four-day conference received
extensive national and international media coverage
and brought together a comprehensive group of about
700 representatives of the world's scientific,
economic and political community. Prof. Chassy's
presentation, on September 22, was followed by an
audience of over 200 scientific experts, including
leading Italian media organizations, RAI and Mediaset.


3. Prof. Chassy's program was an opportune occasion
to disseminate among significant Italian audiences
relevant and authoritative information on a frequently
mistreated topic, which has negatively impacted public
opinion in Italy. It struck Dott. Alberto Palma, from
the Lombardy Region Department of Health, to learn
that US FDA takes 10 years to thoroughly evaluate and
issue clearances for a new biotech crop. He admitted
that he had not been aware of the long evaluation
process required by the FDA. The consumers' group in
Treviso also registered a positive change in its
perception of GMOs. It will shortly publish a
pamphlet of Prof. Chassy's speech for large
distribution to its members and local stakeholders.
Post will obtain copies.


4. Results. A) The September 15 weekly issue of
"L'Espresso" (circ. 471,000),the Italian version of
Newsweek, carried a four-page interview of Prof.
Chassy. As noted by our Economic Office "it was the
first time that the center-left weekly L'Espresso had
ever written a positive article on a US interest, much
less on GMOs," the point being that a lot of fear of
biotech products in Italy is overblown and that there
are plenty of GMOs that are health beneficial. Post
regards this as a very strong placement.
B) Professor Chassy's participation in the Veronesi
conference in Venice led him to membership in an elite
follow-up group, the "Alliance for Scientific
Development" from which he will strategically promote
the future role of biotechnology. On November 15,
"The Venice Charter", the official document signed by
some 300 of the world's top scientists - including
Prof. Chassy - at the conference, was to be presented
by Prof. Umberto Veronesi in New York at the Academy
of Science, thus multiplying the message conveyed by
our speaker.
C) The Venetian daily Il Gazzettino, (circ. 119,000)
published a four-column article titled "With GMOs we
defend nature. Biotech products are a valid
alternative to pesticides, herbicides and radioactive
isotopes"
La Macchina del Tempo Satellite Channel (counting
3,500,000 subscribers),in the week of Sept 3 - 7, ran
5 times a day, including its prime time TV news
program MT Channel at 10:00 pm, a 16 minute interview
of Prof. Chassy.

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