There will be no black stamp on the wine

There will be no wine no black stamp that says “causes cancer”, on the model of cigarettes. So the plenary assembly of the European Parliament decided when discussing the final text of the Cancer Planthat is the anti-cancer plan drawn up by the Beca Commission (Committee on Beating Cancer) which contains indications for the prevention and treatment of the disease of the century for which we now know that lifestyle, and therefore also nutrition, plays a fundamental role.

The amendments presented by the Italian parliamentarians have passed, asking that the plan be specified that “There is a difference between harmful and moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages and it is not the consumption itself that constitutes a risk factor for cancer”. A substantial difference because the report initially wrote that “there is no alcohol consumption without health risks”, and “there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption”.

The measures

In short, a “soft” line, on the basis of which there will be no health alerts on bottles of wine and spirits in general. What we will see will be one “Recommendation for responsible moderate consumption”. Furthermore, no further taxes will be imposed on wines nor – as foreseen by the initial draft – sponsorships will be prohibited. The specifications, after the guidelines approved by the Parliament, will be defined by the European Commission which will indicate the regulations that will then be binding for the States of the Union.

The opinion of the producers

“The European Parliament saves almost ten thousand years of wine history”the president of Coldiretti commented among the first Ettore Prandini in thanking the Italian parliamentarians for their teamwork for defending a valuable sector 12 billion in turnover, of which 7.1 billion in exports and offers employment directly or indirectly to 1.3 million people. “Has been rejected the attempt to demonize the consumption of wine and beer through health alarms on the label already adopted for cigarettes, the increase in taxation and exclusion from the promotional policies of the European Union, as part of the Cancer plan proposed by the European Commission. The right commitment of the European Union to protect the health of citizens cannot translate into simplistic decisions that risk unjustly criminalizing individual products regardless of the quantities consumed “, underlined Coldiretti, recalling that the our country is the world’s leading producer and exporter of wineries and companies.

They are two distinct things, but this position taken by the European Parliament suggests that the proposal of Serge Hercbergnutritionist and epidemiologist professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, arrived at the very highlight of the discussion in Parliament to add add a F to the Nutriscore label (traffic light label already in use for some time in France) to indicate the “maximum harmfulness” for alcohol or for products that contain even only small percentages of alcohol, may fall into the void. What does the Nustriscore have to do with it? It will be one of the proposals that will be examined by the EU in the coming months in an attempt to define, with a law, a universal labeling system for food and drinks.

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