Fwd: EU & U.S. on Biotech Crops: The Battle Rages On

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News Update from The Campaign <newsupdate wrote:Sat, 10

May 2003 15:35:44 -0700

News Update from The Campaign

EU & U.S. on Biotech Crops: The Battle Rages On

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

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Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

The European Union opposition to genetically engineered crops is

intensifying. Leading scientists are organizing to challenge the safety

of genetically engineered foods. And a major trade war could be

developing between the European Union and the United States. Here are

the details:

 

NEW INDEPENDENT SCIENCE PANEL FORMED

 

An " Independent Science Panel for a GM-Free Sustainable World " has been

formed that held their first public meeting on Saturday in London,

England. This group of primarily European scientists is challenging the

notion that " there is no evidence of harm " from genetically engineered

foods.

 

They just released a 105-page report titled " The Case for A GM-Free

Sustainable World " that The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered

Foods has posted on our web site:

http://www.thecampaign.org/UK_ISP.pdf

 

This reports goes into significant detail about many health concerns

related to genetically engineered foods, including the potential for

horizontal gene transfer.

 

The Campaign applauds the efforts of Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and these scientists

who are challenging the propaganda about genetically engineered foods

being safe. There are numerous reasons to be concerned about the

long-term health effects of eating genetically engineered foods as their

new report points out.

 

The first item posted below is a press release from the Institute of

Science in Society that discusses the new Independent Science Panel.

 

DR. ARPAD PUSZTAI SPEAKS OUT AGAINST GE FOODS

 

One of the scientists who has joined the Independent Science Panel for a

GM-Free Sustainable World is Arpad Pusztai, formerly senior scientist at

Rowett Institute, Scotland. Dr. Pusztai was fired from the Rowett

Institute in 1998 when his research discovered that rats fed genetically

engineered potatoes developed health problems.

 

The second item posted below is an article about Dr. Pusztai from last

weekend's Sunday Times (London) titled " Scientist who pressed GM panic

button raises new food health fears. "

 

EU PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE VOTES TO TIGHTEN TRADE RESTRICTIONS

 

Last week a European Parliament committee voted to tighten restrictions

on trade in genetically modified organisms. The third article below from

Dow Jones International News describes this recent development.

 

U.S. LIKELY TO FILE WTO CHARGES AGAINST EUROPEAN UNION

 

The action by the European Parliament committee to tighten trade

restrictions seems to have further angered the United States. The fourth

item posted below is an article from the news agency Agence

France-Presse (AFP) titled " US to challenge EU's policy on GM foods in

WTO. "

 

Even though US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has not commented on

the validity of the AFP article, we know he has been threatening such an

action for months. And Senator Charles Grassley continues to

aggressively press the Bush administration to file WTO charges.

 

CONSUMER BOYCOTT LIKELY IF WTO CHARGES ARE FILED BY U.S.

 

Apparently the strained relations between the U.S. and the European

nations over the Iraqi war have the potential to carry over into the

issue of genetically engineered foods. The final article posted below is

titled " EU official sees boycotts if US files biotech suit. "

 

The next few months should be interesting. Will the United States file WTO

charges against the European Union? How will European consumers react to

the U.S. taking such action? Stay tuned...

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign

for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass

legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered

foods in the United States. "

 

***************************************************************

 

Press Release

Embargoed until May 10

 

Independent Science Panel for a GM-Free Sustainable World

 

Environment Minister Michael Meacher to Attend Launch

 

In a surprising move, dozens of prominent scientists have joined forces

to form an Independent Science Panel (ISP) on GM, to counteract what

they see to be a concerted campaign by the government and the scientific

establishment in the UK to promote GM under the guise of 'sound'

science.

 

" This amounts to open scientific rebellion, possibly unprecedented in

history, " says Mae-Wan Ho, Director of the Institute of Science in

Society, who initiated the move, and confessed to having been taken by

surprise, and delighted, by the positive response of the scientists

contacted.

 

Many of the scientists have been feeling frustrated at the lack of open

public debate on a whole range of scientific and other issues. The

'discussion meetings' organised by the government are invariably stacked

with pro-GM scientists hyping the potential benefits of GM, and giving

the public bland assurances that " there is no evidence of harm " .

 

It will all change now.

 

At a special launching conference on May 10 in London, the ISP will

release their report, The Case for A GM-Free Sustainable World, the

strongest, most complete dossier of evidence ever put together to

support their call for a ban on GM crops and widespread adoption of

organic sustainable agriculture. This is timed to kick off the GM

national debate in the UK, and to input into the Ministerial Conference

and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology in Sacramento,

California in June. The report has already attracted considerable

international attention.

 

Environment Minister Michael Meacher says he will be attending the

launch.

 

" We'll give them a case to answer, " says Brian John, geomorphologist and

environment scientist, who has been working closely with the GM Free

Cymru campaign. " Those of us who have looked into the science of GM

crops and foods from a community or consumer perspective have been

appalled at the apparent abandonment of the precautionary principle and

at the control exerted over the scientific agenda by the biotechnology

multinationals. "

 

The Report will be sent to the president of the Philippines together

with a letter in support of one of the ISP members, Roberto Verzola,

Secretary-General of the Philippine Greens, who has initiated an

indefinite hunger strike, to protest his government's approval of

Monsanto's Bt maize, now in its 15th day. The Panel includes Britain's

best-loved botanist, broadcaster, writer and tireless campaigner for

Mother Earth, David Bellamy OBE, who will lead the launch of the ISP.

 

Other speakers include Stanley Ewen, Consultant Histopathologist, at

Grampian University Hospitals Trust; Malcolm Hooper, Emeritus Professor

of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Sunderland; Vyvyan Howard,

toxipathologist, University of Liverpool; Arpad Pusztai, formerly senior

scientist at Rowett Institute, Scotland, and Gundula Azeez, Policy

Manager, Soil Association.

 

For further details contact Lim Li Ching ching tel:

44-(0)20-8643-0681, or Mae-Wan Ho m.w.ho tel: 44

(0)20-7272-5636, or see the ISIS website

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/temp/GM-ISP.php.

 

The Institute of Science in Society

Science Society Sustainability

http://www.i-sis.org.uk

 

General Enquiries sam

Website/Mailing List press-release

ISIS Director m.w.ho

 

***************************************************************

 

Scientist who pressed GM panic button raises new food health fears

 

Sunday Times (London)

May 4, 2003, Sunday

 

A SCIENTIST who shocked the world with research claiming that

genetically modified (GM) crops might damage human health is to release

new findings supporting his warnings, writes Jonathan Leake.

 

Arpad Pusztai, who lost his job at the prestigious Rowett Research

Institute in Aberdeen after outlining his findings in a television

programme in 1998, will publish the new research this week.

 

It warns that the work carried out by biotechnology companies into the

human health hazard from GM food is inadequate and unsafe. It also

points to technical defects in the way GM plants are created.

 

Pusztai's study is contained in a book called Food Safety, a compilation

of scientific papers which describes the contaminants and toxins

contained in modern foods. In his section, Pusztai brings together all

the scientific studies carried out into the safety of GM foods and

subjects them to rigorous statistical and scientific scrutiny.

 

This weekend he said: " We found that there are only a few such studies

and they show many problems. In particular, they illustrate that GM

foods have never been publicly tested for their safety and

wholesomeness. There is increasing research to show they may actually be

very unsafe. "

 

The research comes at a crucial time. This autumn the Royal Society is

expected to publish the results of the government-sponsored field trials

of GM crops. The government is also about to sponsor a nationwide debate

on the issue.

 

However, Britain's Food Standards Agency has completed separate research

appearing to confirm some of Pusztai's warnings. It showed that

genetically modified DNA in plants can be taken up by gut bacteria in

humans and animals. This finding was contrary to previous assurances

from biotechnology firms, which had said DNA would be broken down in the

gut shortly after consumption.

 

It raises the possibility that alien genes inserted into crop plants and

conferring properties such as antibiotic resistance could be passed on

to bacteria, making them resistant, too.

 

Pusztai had been a plant researcher at the Rowett Institute until he

appeared in a World in Action documentary on GM foods to describe how

rats fed on GM potatoes had suffered gut lesions, retarded growth and

other symptoms.

 

He spoke fewer than a dozen sentences but his words reverberated around

the world, infuriating GM firms and the scientific establishment. They

claimed his research had been poorly done and that he should not have

revealed the results before having it reviewed by peers. However, it was

later approved and published in the medical journal The Lancet.

 

Pusztai's first warnings have been echoed by the Royal Society. Its

experts last year concluded that GM crops could offer substantial

benefits but said too little was known about their potential health

impact.

 

***************************************************************

 

EU Biotech Cos Fear New Restrictions On GMO Exports

 

Dow Jones International News

By Matthew Newman

 

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--Europe's struggling biotech industry was dealt

another blow Wednesday when a European Parliament committee voted to

tighten restrictions on trade in genetically modified organisms.

 

Under the revised rules, no GMOs can be exported from Europe without the

" formal " consent of importing countries. That can raise barriers to

exports as developing countries increasingly balk at new technologies.

 

The full parliament will vote on the measure in June.

 

The parliamentary debate highlights problems facing Europe's biotech

industry and the deep trans-Atlantic divide over biotech.

 

The top U.S. trade official, Robert Zoellick, has called the European

approach " immoral " and " Luddite, " and he has threatened to file a suit

at the World Trade Organization. He was particularly incensed when

famine-stricken Zambia refused U.S. food aid, out what he believed was

fear he believed of European retaliation for accepting genetically

modified corn.

 

Parliamentarians sponsoring the European bill said the U.S. has the

immoral position and also called it imperialistic. They want to make

sure that European countries respect importing countries' bans on GMOS.

 

" The attempt by the U.S. to exploit temporary food shortages in Africa

to force developing countries to accept GM foods demonstrates how

urgently we need such regulation, " said Swedish green Parliament member

Jonas Sjoestedt. " In the guise of humanitarian aid, the U.S. was, in

reality, simply trying to dump surplus GM food that nobody wants to

buy. "

 

U.S. biotech company Monsanto Co. (MON) said that charge is ludicrous.

 

" The U.S. in no way manipulated the situation in Africa to export GMO

products, " said Monsanto spokesman Thomas McDermott. " It was food aid

and brought safe food, consumed by millions of Americans, to people in

Africa. "

 

Europe's biotech industry is already facing strong consumer backlash

against modified, with some supermarkets refusing to carry products

containing GMOs. European governments have refused for the past four

years to approve new biotech products.

 

If the European parliament gets its way, biotech promoters fear

innovation and research will be further hampered in Europe, said Simon

Barber, director

of the Plant Biotechnology Unit at Europabio, the European association

of biotech industries.

 

" Research is already down and the new requirements could only make

things worse, " Barber said, adding that European researchers may no

longer be able to export GMOs for field research, discouraging

scientists from doing basic research.

 

1 May 2003

 

***************************************************************

 

US to challenge EU's policy on GM foods in WTO

Thu May 8, 2003

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has decided to challenge the

European Union's de facto moratorium on genetically modified foods in

the World Trade Organization, senior administration sources said.

 

" We've been pushed against a wall here, " a senior administration

official told AFX News, a subsidiary of AFP, on condition of anonymity,

adding that a case is expected to be filed by " mid-June " at the latest.

 

" Sooner is probably more likely, " the official said. Officials are still

debating the timing of filing the legal papers. At issue is whether to

file the case before or after the upcoming Group of Eight summit in

Evian, France.

 

Bush is set to travel to the southern French coast early next month for

the annual gathering of the heads of state of Britain, Canada, France,

Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

 

Richard Mills, spokesman for US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick,

whose office would lodge the complaint, declined to comment on the

decision to go ahead with the case, saying simply " the EU's moratorium

is illegal under WTO rules and needs to be lifted. "

 

A group of EU countries including France has placed a moratorium on

approving GMO imports, effectively halting the trade.

 

The United States contends that the ban, applied since 1999, harms its

exports of maize, cotton and soya.

 

Washinton has considered filing a case against the EU for several

months, but delayed because of the war with Iraq (news - web sites),

officials have said.

 

In January, Zoellick stunned reporters when he announced that he

" personally " held " the view that we now need to bring a case " in the WTO

even though there was not an official government consensus on the

matter.

 

Zoellick at that time was careful to note that a cabinet-level meeting

hosted by the National Security Council still needed to take place

before a decision could be made.

 

A formal meeting including the heads of the Agriculture, Commerce and

State Departments is no longer necessary, an official said.

 

" There's been inter-agency consultation at that level but without a

formal meeting, " the official said, " the consensus is there. "

 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, who has been a vocal

proponent for filing a case, separately summoned a group of senior

administration officials to his Capitol Hill office this week to press

for filing a case.

 

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said in recent months that if the

United States did file a case, the EU would win.

 

" We would win a case like this, " Lamy told reporters in Washington in

March after meetings with US lawmakers and administration officials,

including Zoellick.

 

And EU officials have suggested that there would be a consumer backlash

against American goods resulting in boycotts of American food products.

 

The spat comes on the heels of strained US-EU relations over the war in

Iraq and a separate trade dispute over tax breaks that benefit US

exporters such as Boeing and Microsoft.

 

Earlier this week, the EU was authorized by the WTO to levy up to 4

billion dollars in sanctions against the United States for tax breaks

given to US exporters that have been found to be illegal under the rules

of the Geneva-based trade body.

 

***************************************************************

 

EU official sees boycotts if US files biotech suit

 

by Richard Cowan

May 8, 2003

 

EU official sees boycotts if US files biotech suit

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European consumers could boycott American goods

if the Bush administration challenges the legality of the EU's

moratorium on genetically modified foods and drugs, an EU official said.

 

With U.S.-EU ties still strained over the war in Iraq, the filing of a

World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint could provoke a consumer

backlash in Europe that " could trigger a boycott of American food

products, " said Tony Van der haegen, a biotech policy expert at the

European Commission office in Washington.

 

For months, the Bush administration has left open the possibility it

would initiate a WTO complaint against the EU's refusal to approve new

biotech products.

 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican from

the corn-producing state of Iowa, this week met with several Bush

administration officials, urging them to immediately file the complaint.

 

Grassley said if no decision to file a WTO case is made within two

weeks, he would try to stir up more pressure, including delivering a

statement on the Senate floor. But he acknowledged he had no tools to

quickly force the administration to act.

 

The European Commission itself has been trying to get the five-year-old

moratorium lifted, arguing that 12 of 13 new biotech products have been

approved by a scientific committee.

 

The EC frets that Europe risks losing its biotech industry without quick

action. But European consumers' fears of biotech foods have also slowed

lifting the moratorium. Once it is removed, new labeling and

traceability standards for biotech goods could prompt a U.S. legal

challenge.

 

Speaking at an event hosted by the National Foreign Trade Council, Van

der haegen said that given the fragile relations between Europe and

America over Iraq and Europe's intention to lift the moratorium within a

few months, it might " not be worth going to the WTO anymore. "

 

This winter, the Bush administration appeared to be on the verge of

filing the complaint, as top officials, including U.S Trade

Representative Robert Zoellick, said their patience had run out with the

EU. But as war drew near, the administration put off a decision.

 

The National Foreign Trade Council, comprising 400 U.S. companies,

released a report this week accusing the EU and some other countries of

imposing burdensome standards and regulations that block imports of

food, electronics, computers and a range of other goods.

 

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If you would like to comment on this News Update, you can do so at the

forum section of our web site at: http://www.thecampaign.org/forums

 

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