The Senate Agriculture Commission approved the amendment that will allow field trials in Italy of Assisted Evolution Technologies (TEA) for the plant world to be carried out. This is an important step for a fundamental technology to achieve fully sustainable agriculture.
To refresh your memory: TEAs should absolutely not be confused with the “infamous” GMOs – these are operations of gene transfer between plants of the same species, therefore an “acceleration” of the normal crossing techniques known to man for some millennia.
Italy cannot afford to fall behind in this area. A sector that is already having incredible developments in many countries of the world – and promises much more.
The first TEA product will make its debut on the American market this summer: it is a high-end gourmet salad. The salad is produced by Pairwise, a company founded by some of the pioneering scientists of CRISPR techniques. It is a salad that is sold as a “superfood” – with very high nutritional values.
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In any case, we won’t have to wait so long to have new products – in Italy we could work profitably on some crops that are fundamental for our territories: for example the grape vine.
[Editor’s note: This article has been translated from Italian and edited for clarity]
