Thirty Italian scientists, doctors and academics are staging a hunger strike in protest against what they call biased reporting in the Government-controlled media in the run-up to this week's referendum on stem-cell research legislation.
On June 12-13, Italians will vote to repeal or maintain Europe's most restrictive legislation on embryonic stem-cell research, which was passed with strong support from the Roman Catholic Church.
One of the hunger strikers is Gilberto Corbellini, professor of the history of medicine at Rome's La Sapienza University.
He said: "The state TV networks and the private networks controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are dominated by opinions that reflect the position of the Church. Almost no mention has been made of the appeal for a 'yes' vote [for repeal] signed by 150 of Italy's most renowned scientists, including two Nobel laureates.
"The Government and many politicians are bending over backwards to support the wishes of the Church, ignoring the fact that according to opinion polls 70 per cent of Italians would like at least parts of the existing legislation changed."
For the referendum to be valid, at least 50 per cent of those entitled to vote must do so. If the threshold is reached, it is almost certain that the legislation will be repealed.
The Church has vociferously called for people to abstain rather than vote against repeal, so that the status quo will prevail.
"This is a legal but squalid ploy that ignores the wishes of the voters," Professor Corbellini said.
"To encourage abstention, there is a mass of disinformation from non-scientific sources that raises the spectre of human cloning, murdering babies and designer babies," he added.
The scientists' hunger strike is backed by the traditionally anticlerical Radical Party and by non-Catholic groups across the political spectrum.
The strike is steadily attracting more scientists as well as public figures from non-scientific sectors. Some Catholics have also challenged the Vatican by speaking in favour of voting "yes" or "no" according to individual conscience, rather than abstaining.
"Inevitably, the referendum will be about whether Italy is an independent lay nation or a country under Catholic tutelage," said Daniele Capezzone, a Radical Party leader.
Although the campaign is proclaimed as a hunger strike, many of those taking part fast only part of the time under a loosely organised relay system. "I have to go on working, so I eat roughly every other day," Professor Corbellini explained.