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Talks Collapse on U.S. Efforts to Open Europe to Biotech Food
(David Leonhardt, New York Times, June 20, 2003)
Talks between the United States and the European Union over opening up Europe to genetically modified foods broke down in Geneva today, the Bush administration announced, heightening trans-Atlantic tensions. . . . American officials said they would soon request that the World Trade Organization convene a panel to hear their case, in an effort to end a ban that farm groups say is depriving agricultural businesses of hundreds of billions of dollars a year. . . . European officials said the long-term effects of altered food remained uncertain. They said they were disappointed by the administration's publicizing of the dispute. . . . Genetically modified food — which can grow more quickly than traditional crops and can be resistant to insects — has caused scant controversy in the United States, where people eat it every day. Almost 40 percent of all corn planted in this country in genetically modified. . . . In Europe, however, the environmental movement is more powerful, and a series of food problems, including mad cow disease, have made people far more skeptical of assurances of safety from governments and businesses. Some food packages there bear the label "GM free," and the initials are well enough known to be used regularly in headlines in British newspapers. . . . European diplomats reacted angrily to Mr. Bush's comments, saying that their health concerns were serious and noting that European nations spend a greater part of their budget on foreign aid than the United States. . . . Europe's resistance to modified crops received a political lift last week when a global treaty restricting them was approved. Although it is not clear what effect the treaty, known as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, will have on the trade dispute, it is likely to make it easier for countries to restrict importing the crops, trade experts say.

posted by LoZo 9:58 AM