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Unyielding views on biotech

It was the longest and possibly the most complex ruling ever put out by the World Trade Organization, running to more than 1,000 pages.

But after years of litigation, little is likely to change - at least for consumers here - as a result of the finding that the European Union breached trade rules by restricting imports of genetically modified crops and food.

The problem lies largely in differing ways of looking at biotechnology and the products derived from it. The United States, which brought the suit along with Canada and Argentina, argued about free trade and the ability of farmers to capitalize on scientific advances.

For the Europeans, though, the case is also about politics, responding to public fears - justified or not - about perceived threats to health and the environment. On a continent scarred in recent years by health scandals ranging from mad cow disease to dioxin contamination of eggs and chickens, there is little appetite to experiment any more with the food supply.

There also is an element of allowing each country the sovereign right to make such decisions itself - even if it means ignoring multilateral agreements.

Friends of the Earth, a leading environmentalist group, described the report in a statement as "an inappropriate intrusion into decisions about what food people eat."

Trade officials said the report had found that the EU had an effective moratorium on approving biotechnology products from 1998 until 2004, when a new approval process and labeling rules for biotech products in the EU took effect.

Europe argued that it did not have a moratorium but that it had taken time to weigh the possible risks posed by genetic engineering. It favored a "precautionary" approach as opposed to Washington's "laissez-faire" stance, it said.

The panel ruled in favor of the United States and its allies regarding the bans by the six countries. It also ruled for the complainants on all but a handful of specific crops.

Even though the ruling is not expected to flood Europe with biotech foods, U.S. government and industry officials said it would help discourage other countries from adopting similar barriers and would set a precedent that countries must have sound scientific reasons for rejecting genetically modified crops. Some countries have feared they would lose exports to Europe if they were to grow the crops.

Illustrating the resistance in Europe, the French cabinet this week adopted a bill to allow regulated trials of biotech crops, AFX News reported. The government, which faced the prospect of heavy fines for failing to follow EU directives from 2001 and 2003, hopes a law will be adopted by the end of the year.

Some experts, though, said the WTO's decision could harden resistance to the foods.

(www.checkbiotech.org)

 
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