The news of the publication of the article in the British newspaper "Daily Mail" in which the Australian researcher Saul Newman questions the veracity and reliability of the research underlying the identification of the Blue Zones in Sardinia made the world's day. Statements that made the Sardinian researchers who have dedicated commitment and professionalism to longevity research since the end of the 1990s jump out of their seats, first of all Dr. Giovanni Pes of the University of Sassari, unanimously considered the discoverer of the Blue Zones .

«I seem to have gone back twenty-five years, when in a demography conference in Montpellier I communicated for the first time the existence of a Sardinian area with a very high longevity index, which at the time I called Blue Zone, because I had used a blue marker to highlight them on the maps - attacks Pes - and I had to spend over a decade to convince the scientific community that my data were truthful ". In particular, it is the accusation of "statistical rubbish" that astonishes Doctor Pes: "I can confirm that Sardinia can demonstrate that it possesses data documented by the registers kept in the ecclesiastical archives from the 16th century onwards and in the municipal archives starting from 1866 - he is keen to point out - and in addition to the precious collaboration of the Municipal Administrations and sometimes of the Dioceses, the certification requires enormous and precise work on the part of the staff of the demographic offices, whom I take this opportunity to thank".

A painstaking job which according to Dr. Pes certainly cannot be questioned by a researcher who has never worked in the field of the Sardinian Blue Zones . «Not only has this gentleman never visited our Blue Zone but he didn't even bother to ask us for information on our studies, before writing unfounded and unacceptable news; I had the honor of accessing the parish and municipal registers - remarks Pes - and of processing all the data with an internationally recognized scientific method when I carried out the studies for the issue of the Blue Zone certification to the municipalities examined in Sardinia: Arzana , Baunei, Seulo, Talana, Teulada, Urzulei, Villagrande". a sign, in the opinion of the Australian researcher, of completely invented birth dates. «Absolutely baseless criticism – replies Dr. Pes – and in fact if we limit ourselves to the data of the (those who have reached the age of 110) identified so far, we can note that three were born in January, one in February , one in May, one in June, one in August, one in September, one in October, three in November and two in December; I would also add that in our studies we are able to detect any inconsistencies, which for safety are subjected to greater checks, and in these 25 years we have found only one error, relating to an alleged Sardinian supercentenarian who in reality was only 107 years old. She had been exchanged with her sister of the same name who was three years older and the latter's date of birth had been attributed to her."