10/2/2006
Transatlantic Tensions over WTO Ruling on GMO Imports - by Anthony Pouliquen

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) last week ruled that the European Union’s agricultural tariffs on genetically modified crops and food imports were breaking trade rules.

American sources said WTO trade judges had found that the EU had imposed illegal barriers on GMO imports, and that France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Greece had broken the rules by applying their own bans.

The verdict addressed a complaint brought by leading GMO producers the United States, Argentina and Canada, which claimed the EU ban against new corn, cotton and soybean products was based on protectionism, and not on scientific concerns.

“This is a message to the world that (we) won't put up with the EU violating the rules,” president of the National Corn Growers Association Len Corzine said to Reuters.

“It seems to send a clear signal that any measures to protect animal, human and plant health have to be based on sound science,” Christian Verschueren, director-general of CropLife International, said to the agency.

The findings have yet to be made public.

Brussels denied all these accusations and declared the WTO ruling “unhelpful and unfounded” in a memo released the same day, arguing that the moratorium against GMO imports had ended in May 2004 since when more than 30 GMOs have been approved for marketing in the EU.

“The panel has taken a number of years to reach final conclusions on the dispute. This shows that the matters at stake are far more complex than claimed by the US, Argentina and Canada,” the memo said.

It added that “10 years after the first commercial release, 90% of GMOs remain cultivated in 4 countries: USA (55%), Argentina (19%), Brazil (10%), and Canada (6%).

“The EU remains confident that its regulatory regime over GMOs and GM food and feed is fully compatible with its international commitments including those under the WTO.”

The biotech industry had keenly awaited the ruling in hope that it would let them boost GMO shipments to Europe. US farmers say the EU ban cost them some $300 million a year in lost sales.

However, the Europeans are known to be wary of GMO products, regularly labelled “Frankenstein food” by various Green parties in Western Europe. Reuters states that opposition is estimated at more than 70 percent.

Several anti-globalisation organisations have already criticised the ruling, saying it showed the WTO’s concern for trade at the expense of health and national legitimacy.