CETA, the Italian government approves the ratification and implementation of the transatlantic free trade agreement. With nefarious effects.
Silent maneuvers
Between the lines of the copious government press release of 24 May 2017 (1) lies the news that 'the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano, approved a bill ratifying and executing (...) the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada, on the one hand, and the European Union and its Member States, on the other hand, with annexes, defined in Brussels on 30 October 2016, and the related common interpretative instrument.'
Under the deafening silence of the regime's newspapers - which distracted readers with debates on mandatory vaccines and electoral reform - the Italian government gave the green light to CETA. An all-encompassing treaty which, as we already have reported , betrays any protection so far recognized to food production Made in Italy.
CETA, avalanche on Made in Italy
Starting with the Stresa Convention from 1951, onthe use of designations of origin and names of cheeses'(2) - passing through the Common Organization of Markets and the regimes for the protection of Geographical Indications (3) - the countries of the old continent have tried their hand at safeguarding the characteristic agri-food productions. By defining specific production regulations, linked to territories and traditions, and recognition of exclusive rights of use of the respective Geographical Indications.
In the name of the transatlantic 'partnership', those who claim to represent Europe's interests have given up on protecting its traditional products. To the point of settling for partial and unrealistic recognition of 41 PDOs and PGIs out of 291, as far as Italy is concerned. But that is not all.
Risks for food safety and animal welfare
Food safety and animal welfare, as well as the health of citizens, the protection of workers and the environment, have reached the highest guarantee standards in Europe. Thanks to enormous efforts and investments on the public and private sides, which today are in turn sacrificed on the altar of neoliberalism.
Take the example of meats. Italian zootechnics 4.0 , with the Padua Charter , proposes to Europe to align digital registers at its level. To ensure the real-time availability of animal data and electronic medical records, health conditions and treatments, well-being of the individual animals. Promoting the correct use of medicines, in the already restricted area of authorized active ingredients, and drug supervision.
The example of meats, chlorine hormones and cloning
Across the Atlantic the situation is, so to speak, 'a little different':
- the lack of hygiene in poultry farms they find extreme remedy in washing the carcasses with chlorine-based solutions,
- hormones of synthesis they are systematically applied to so-called production animals, which are also 'doped' with drugs whose use in Europe has been banned for decades, (4)
- cloning it lacks rules on registration and labeling, so that the meat derived from the progeny of cloned animals can be freely placed on the market without anyone knowing.
Il dumping sanitary - as well as environmental and workers' rights - will therefore affect not only our supply chains, but also the health of consumers that the European legislator had so far taken care to ensure.
Looking forward to seeing what will those who occupy the seats of Montecitorio and Palazzo Madama, to whom the bill for the approval of CETA have been forwarded, do, let's get ready to resist.
Dario Dongo
Footnotes to the story
(1) Cf. http://www.governo.it/articolo/comunicato-stampa-del-consiglio-dei-ministri-n-31/7447
(2) V. https://www.admin.ch/opc/it/classified-compilation/19510137/200503290000/0.817.142.1.pdf
(3) Italy is the first European state for recognition of traditional agri-food products (with 291 between DOP, IGP, TSG) and typical wines (with 523 DOCG, DOC, IGT)
(4) Anabolic substances such as cortisone drugs and 'β-agonists', eg. ractopamine. The consumption of meat from animals treated with anabolic steroid hormones is associated with alterations in the reproductive system of the individuals who consume them and their offspring. As documented in several scientific studies. V. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
