US embassy cable - 05MILAN532

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MILAN 000532 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR ECA/PE/V/G/E-AMOYLAN AND NBELL; EUR/PPD- 
VWALKER; EUR/WE-AYOUNG; EUR/ERA; EB/TPP/ABT 
 
ROME FOR CAO 
 
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. 
 
GRAZE