Already approved by the Italian Parliament, the Assisted Evolutionary Techniques (TEA) now aim to break the bank in Brussels as well. The proposal for the commercialization of the botanical varieties obtained through these techniques is today the subject of discussion within the European Commission.

A path that is far from downhill for teas in Europe, which proceeds after the vice-president of the EU Commission Frans Timmermans had tried to subordinate their approval to the cutting of pesticides. Unlike GMOs, to which they have often been erroneously associated, Teas involve the modification of the plant genome but without the use of gene sequences from the DNA of other species.

A possible approval of teas at European level should also make it possible to fill a regulatory vacuum, in the presence of which a sentence of the European Court of Justice in 2018 essentially banned these techniques, effectively equating them to GMOs, banned by the 2001 directive.

In our country, the approval of teas is supported by almost the entire agricultural world, starting with the association Confagricoltura but not by organic producers. The opposition also from all environmentalist associations is very strong.

Italy is the first country to have approved - through an amendment included in the drought decree - a specific law for the authorization of teas, while in the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden and Belgium, experimentation is permitted in open field.