US embassy cable - 03ROME3481

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 
 
 
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 2003ROME03481 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL