Press Release 20/05/09

THE SELF-REFERENTIAL PONTIFICAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES RECEIVES STREET PROTESTS

Press release by Mr. Guido Pollice, President of Verdi Ambiente e Società,
and Ms. Fabrizia Pratesi, coordinator of Comitato Scientifico Equivita

On the 18th of May 2009, from 10:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. we organized a street protest to tell the citizenry that the study week promoted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences does not help science. Science needs dialogue, debate, doubt and not unilateral market initiatives behind “closed doors”.

We organized the street protest to tell the citizenry that GMOs are not science. They are a (arguable) technology that, for roughly 30 years, has always borne the same fruit: plants genetically modified to become resistant to herbicides and insects.
Plants that are engineered only for the profit of a handful of agro-chemical multinationals. Patented plants that do nothing for the poor people in the world because they contribute to starve them and make them GMO-dependent.

Pope Benedict XVI has stated: “The campaign to promote GM sowing, that pretends to grant food security […] risks to ruin small farmers and to suppress their traditional crops, making them dependent on GM production companies” (“Instrumentum laboris” document).

But neither the words of the Pontiff, nor the appeal of groups of Catholic organizations, nor the protest of civil society seems to have had an impact on the promotional campaign of biotech foodstuffs launched by the Pontifical Academy.
 
Fortunately however, the message conveyed by the Pontifical Academy does not find fertile ground within society. People are increasingly informed and interested in what they eat and it will not be easy to convince them that GMOs are good and fair products. Indeed, one of the latest surveys shows that European citizens consider it a priority that the European Community ban GMOs (King Baldwin Foundation).
 
We have always “invested” in an open debate with people. This is another reason why we organized a street protest on the 18th of May, in concomitance with the workshop: “Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context of Development” of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. And, perhaps, our direct connection with people was, and continues to be, more effective than the self-referential debate organized within the Vatican.

For further information, please contact:
Press Office of VAS: +39  06/3608181 – +39 329/1328437
Press Office of Equivita: +39  063/220720 – +39  335/8444949