Carlo Petrini, Slow Food: “The right of all peoples to food sovereignty – Coexistence with GMOs is not possible”
16 Jul 2003 | English
”The failure of the mass agriculture model has to be acknowledged. As an alternative, we have to reaffirm the small-scale dimension for farms and thus rebuild and revitalize small rural communities.
”An economy centered round agriculture is valid not only for the poor countries of the south of the world, but also for the rich western world. This is a modern and progressive vision of the world’s prospects, neither sterile and conservative nor utopically idyllic.”
Carlo Petrini was speaking at the session “Sharing the Earth’s Riches: Food” at the Meeting of San Rossore (Pisa), dedicated to the themes of globalization, to outline the Manifesto drawn up by the International Commission on the Future of Food, of which he is a member, along with such authorities as Vandana Shiva (Research Foundation for Technology), Marcello Buiatti (Professor of Genetics, University of Florence), Edward Goldsmith (publisher of The Ecologist) and Caroline Lucas (Euro-MP).
“The Manifesto on the Future of Food that we have signed forcefully proclaims the right of all people to self-determination of in the field of agriculture and food,” he went on. “Every nation and every region should be able to choose to cultivate traditional food that is an expression of their cultural identity.
“In Europe, coexistence with genetically modified crops is not possible: our geography and the contiguity between agricultural areas make it impossible to guarantee the necessary protection against accidental contamination.
“I wish to bring to public attention the great act of courage performed by Enzo Ghigo, President of the Piedmont Regional Authority, who is continuing to follow the road he set out upon sometime ago with exemplary farsightedness, promoting high quality agriculture and safeguarding typical, artisan made products.
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