They have uprooted the plants, they cut them and threw them into the water, destroying the first Italian experimental field of rice obtained with assisted evolution techniques (Tea). Plants not gmo but improved – leaving the genetic heritage unchanged – to make them resistant to some illnesses, reducing the use of pesticides and pesticides. It happened last night in Mezzana Bigli, in the province of Pavia. The perpetrators, after tampering with the surveillance camera and tearing up the protective metal mesh, devastated the cultivation resulting from a research project launched by the Lombardy Region with theUniversity of Milan. A police investigation has started into the matter to identify those responsible.
A gesture criminal“, the regional councilor for Agriculture defined it Alessandro Beduschi, “which compromises an experiment that we were the first in Italy to start with an important political effort and by combining the best scientific expertise on the subject”. Maria Pia Abbracchio, deputy rector of the University of Milan, spoke of a “regurgitation of obscurantist and anti-scientific violence” and the president of Confagricoltura Marta Sempio of “sign of obscurantism, absolute ignorance and inability to accept the challenges of a world where we will soon be 8 billion, all with equal dignity of access to food”. On social media, Sempio explained, “one poster goes around demonstration against this experimental field, there are many voices that compare Tea to GMOs”. The ‘Cambiare il campo’ coalition, which promotes “alternatives to the industrial agri-food system”, has been trying for some time to organize a protest mobilization against the Pavia experimentation.
Also agree in the condemnation Marco CappatoFilomena Gallo and Marco Perduca ofLuca Coscioni Association: “The complete devastation of the rice cultivation field is a attack against the ecosystem, science and people in the name of a misunderstood ecologism. The authors have violently destroyed the results of years of research, aimed precisely at reduce environmental impact of rice cultivation. Solidarity with the researchers of the University of Milan coordinated by our General Councilor Vittoria Brambilla, and we undertake from now on to support them in remedying and reducing the damage inflicted by this violent, cowardly and imbecile action”.
