The petition of European citizens against joining a ‘muscular’ treaty with uncertain boundaries has surpassed 1.7 million signatures. Why?
The treaty can perhaps benefit heavy industry, mechanical industry in particular. But to come to be recognized as such, to make the WTO accept the adoption of tariffs that are preferential to those applied to all member states, one cannot help but include agriculture. Yet, in my humble opinion, it is very dangerous to break down barriers between the U.S. and the EU in agribusiness, for several reasons.
1) FOOD SAFETY
In Europe, it is 236 times easier to die from influenza than from food poisoning. In the U.S., foodborne illnesses affect an average of 1 in 6 citizens each year. Not coincidentally, food safety protection regimes are extremely diverse, and the reform enacted by Obama (the Food Safety Modernization Act), the first structural reform of the Food Lawafter 72 years, is nonetheless lacking in resources for official public controls.
2) EMERGING RISKS
– Synthetic hormones in meats. Estrogens, anabolic drugs. What health risks for consumers?
– Cloning of farm animals, lacks traceability. A question of bio-ethics that could also affect food safety for consumers (data on long-term effects are lacking) and animal welfare. Yet, traceability of animal supply chains where cloning has been employed is not mandated in the U.S.
– Chlorinated chickens. Instead of intervening on prevention of contamination by pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella by applying good hygiene practices on farms, in the United States, action is taken downstream of the supply chain by decontaminating poultry meat by washing with powerful disinfectants. What risks to consumers?
– GMOs and glyphosate. The carcinogenic pesticide-as well as an endocrine disruptor-is widely used on U.S. crops, pollutes groundwater and maintains residues on soybeans and corn in particular. In the U.S. there is a lack of traceability and labeling of GMOs, contamination of non-GMO and organic crop fields is high. Better to refer to the productions of neighboring Russia, where GMOs are strictly forbidden.
3) SUSTAINABILITY AND ANIMAL WELFARE
In the face of the strict rules established in Europe to guarantee animal welfare, in the U.S. the farms are intensive, the animals crammed into tiny spaces and systematically treated with abundant veterinary drugs, hormones but also antibiotics, to prevent disease before slaughter.
4) MADE IN ITALY, DOP AND COUNTERFEITS
– Where does this mush come from? In Europe, the origin of meat, already prescribed for those of the bovine species since 2000, has been extended to pigs, sheep goats and poultry, as of April 1, 2015 (EU reg. 1337/2013). But it is not mandatory for meat preparations, such as burgers and frankfurters. Where do and will mechanically separated meat mash come from? It is not known nor will it be known.
– Made in … Where? In the U.S. on the other hand, there is not even a requirement to indicate the country of origin of the food; it is enough to indicate the name and location of the distributor. Therefore, too, it is imperative that Italy re-establish the requirement to indicate the location of the production plant on the label, the only legal guarantee that can enable global consumers to distinguish true Made in Italy from so-called Italian sounding. Let’s all sign the petition on the Great Italian Food Trade homepage!
– Bologna, the fake mortadella with mechanically separated meat, Parmesello, Provolino and mozzarella with cellulose, Italian pasta with two lines of additives. The U.S. industrial giants are the leading counterfeiters of Italian food products, starting with our PDOs, which they produce on an even larger scale than the originals and distribute all over the planet. Not to mention that in the world there are those who still believe that pizza is a typical North American product….
5) ECONOMIES OF SCALE VS. QUALITY PRODUCTIONS
– Giant Made in the USA productions achieve economies of scale that, thanks also to the substantial absence of rules to protect safety and quality, can destroy the European market still structured on the productions of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises linked to territories and their production traditions, whose costs are significantly higher thanks also to a rigorous system of rules to protect food safety and quality, garrisoned by a capillary system of official public, health and veterinary controls.
It is precisely not a coincidence that food toxins are very rare cases in Europe and commonplace in the US. Compete, at what cost, and why?
(Dario Dongo)
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
