GMW: WTO decision delayed by complexities of GM issue

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GMW: WTO decision delayed by complexities of GM issue

" GM WATCH " <info

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:09:59 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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EXCERPT: By all accounts, the business savvy food maker, who cannot

afford to lose sales, will opt to skip the use of GM ingredients in their

European food formulations: knowing, as they do, that the cynical

European consumer will refuse to buy any GM food product. [ " cynical " is,

presumably, food industry speak for " well-informed " ]

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Complexities of GM issue delay WTO decision

Food Navigator, 20/06/2005

http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/news-ng.asp?n=60763-complexities-of-gm

 

Stakeholders in the food chain, along with technocrats and politicians

in Brussels, must wait until October this year to get the final word

from the WTO on the GM complaint filed by the US, Canada and Argentina,

reports Lindsey Partos.

 

These three major GM crop producing countries set off to the world's

trade arbiter two years ago, complaining that the EU's moratorium on

approvals of genetically modified organisms was a barrier to trade.

 

Chairman of the GM dispute panel at the World Trade Organisation, Swiss

trade diplomat Christian Haberli, recently told the parties that the

panel's ruling, due by the end of June, was now being put off until the

end of October.

 

Haberli cited the complexity of the case, the large amount of

documentation submitted, as well as the decision to consult with

scientific

experts on technical issues raised as the reasons for the delay.

 

A de facto moratorium in place since 1998 saw Europe refusing to

approve any new GM cops for entry into the food chain.

 

But since the US complaint was issued, Brussels has brought in tough

new labelling legislation for GM ingredients: the labels alert consumers

to any engineered foodstuffs used in a food recipe.

 

Through greater transparency for the consumer the new rules, seen by

critics as Europe caving into pressure from the US, actually ushered in

the possibility for new GM approvals and heralded an end to the

moratorium.

 

But since their introduction, only two products have been cleared for

import: a GM sweetcorn supplied by Swiss biotech firm Syngenta and

Monsanto's MON810 biotech maize, engineered to be resistant to the

European

corn borer.

 

The lack of approvals, despite a host of applications, reflects the

deep divisions in Europe over GM acceptance. <p> And while the biotech

companies continue to push forward their applications for approval, there

is little chance the European food industry will actually use the GM

ingredients in their formulations.

 

By all accounts, the business savvy food maker, who cannot afford to

lose sales, will opt to skip the use of GM ingredients in their European

food formulations: knowing, as they do, that the cynical European

consumer will refuse to buy any GM food product.

 

 

 

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