Italian Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida said on October 2o the withdrawal of its proposed anti-cultivated meat bill Italy submitted to the European Union ‘is not a step back’, but many speculate that the government may want to avoid a likely rejection by the European Commission.
On October 13, Italy officially withdrew the Technical Regulation Information System notification (TRIS) for this bill, a EU procedure aimed at preventing the creation of barriers within the block’s internal market. Only after a positive scrutiny of the EU the law can enter into force in Italy, but without it, it remains scrap paper.
Over 2 million people and 3500 municipalities in Italy have signed a petition to normatize cultivated meat. But despite this relative consensus, according to Italian science group Associazione Coscioni, the ban could be considerate a breach to Article 9 of the Italian Constitution, that promote the development of scientific research.
In March of this year, Giorgia Meloni’s brother in law and Agriculture Minister proposed a draft law to ban lab-grown food in Italy – with the aim to “protect national interest, food heritage and consumers’ health.”. The bill included measures that prohibit the production and sale of what in Italy is called ‘synthetic food’ and a fine of up to nearly $64,000.
In July, the Senate of the Italian Republic approved on July 19 the bill preventing the production and import of cultivated products, whereas Lollobrigida stated his pride in Italy’s pioneering role of first country to ban the marketing, importation, and production of synthetic food.
But after notifying the European Commission of its decision in July, the government has taken the text back to casa.
According to documents seen by Italian newpaper Il Foglio, the withdrawing act was done is secrecy. The reason of the request was said to be “for an in-depth study of the issues covered by the bill, in light of the ongoing parliamentary discussion and the amendments that the text could suffer”.
After the news was released the Agriculture Ministry swiftly rectified its plans: “We are postponing the notification to the EU as it has already happened in the past for other similar measures. We believe it will happen very quickly, that is, by November.” said Lollobrigida. The saga continues.
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