title: [Genetically modified organisms: European and Italian legislation to protect citizens' health].
abstract: The development of GM foods and organisms has concentrated everyone's attention on the importance of food safety and on protecting citizens' health, and inevitably influenced healthcare policies regarding food safety. Personal ethical beliefs regarding food and in particular, the consumption of foods derived from biotechnology should be taken into account when deciding healthcare policy.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyse whether European, Italian and Regional legislation meets basic human rights regarding health and the right to choose, based on the precautionary principle.
  
  
  METHODS
  European and Italian laws regarding the production and marketing of GM foods were analysed and compared to food safety legislation, in order to evaluate how and to what degree existing legislation protects consumers' right to choose. Results show that existing legislation protects consumers from possible foodborne diseases, but the right to informed consent and to free choice is not warranted. Existing laws do not attach enough importance to consumers' right to information; arbitrary threshold levels set for labeling and clauses concerning technical causes allow food businesses to avoid labeling and do not give consumers the possibility of making an informed choice.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Università di Cagliari.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sotgiu
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tala
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sardu
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coroneo
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dessi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Contu
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005060:Europe; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007881:Legislation, Food; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified; D012307:Risk Factors; D012449:Safety / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence