US Pressures WTO Members on GMOs
During a visit to the WTO in Geneva on 19 January, US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick met with a number of country delegates from Africa, Asia and the Cairns group of agriculture- exporting countries on biotechnology products, including genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food exports. Meanwhile, a dispute between the US and the EU over GMOs continues to simmer in the WTO’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and US groups on 20 December criticised the USTR for its attack on earlier EU proposals for labelling and traceability of GM food.
On 19 January, USTR Robert Zoellick told reporters at the WTO that the US had a “strong commitment in terms of opening markets for farm products,” and that he had met with African and Asian counterparts on biotech issues. The US is the world’s leading exporter of GMO products. Attempting to draw a link between GMOs and development concerns, Zoellick said, “one topic that I am discussing in particular is with the African group and with the others is the biotech area, which we feel is extremely important in terms of dealing with [issues] ranging from the hundreds of millions of African children who have malnutrition to extreme possibilities for benefits in terms of growing food with fewer fertilizers and pesticides”. The US is also putting pressure on other Members to adopt open policies on GMOs: recently, it attempted to persuade Croatia from going ahead with legislation that would ban genetically engineered food (see this issue, related article). Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bolivia have also been pressured to back down from stringent GMO legislation.
At the press briefing, Zoellick criticised the EU’s de facto moratorium on new genetically modified product approvals. He blamed the EU approach on “fears and lack of a scientific basis or knowledge.” According to EC Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, however, the ban — in place since 1998 — is likely to remain for at least another two years while EU member states continue to debate proposed labelling and traceability regulations (see BRIDGES Weekly, 31 July 2001). The European Commission in August 2001 notified the WTO TBT Committee of its proposed regulations concerning traceability and labelling of GMOs (doc. numbers G/TBT/N/EEC/6 and 7; available at http://docsonline.wto.org/gen_search.asp).
In response to the EC’s notification, the US in early December 2001 submitted a series of questions to the EC outlining its concerns, saying that the Commission’s proposals were “not workable and could unduly impair trade”. Inter alia, the US says that the EC’s proposed regulations are unacceptable because they would require products containing GMOs to be accompanied by a listing of the biotech inputs they may contain. Absent expensive identity preservation systems, the US argues, “suppliers would be forced to list all biotech events approved by the EU. The difficulty and complexities in accurately identifying all of the biotech [inputs] that could possibly be in a shipment creates enormous liability and risk for the shipper / trader.” Additionally, the US says that the EC’s proposals would be implemented on products that had already undergone risk assessments and had been approved for use.
The USTR was criticised for its condemnation of the EC’s labelling and traceability regulations in a 20 December letter signed by a number of consumer, environmental, and animal rights groups, including Friends of the Earth, Center for International Environmental Law, the US Humane Society, and Consumer’s Choice Council. One of these groups’ major concerns is that the resolution of the US-EU dispute over GMO labelling could establish a precedent for other labelling programs that might undermine labelling programs in the US such as labels on Dolphin Safe tuna and organic food.
According to EC trade officials, the US’s questions will be transmitted to the European Council by 31 January, whereupon the Council will deliberate and report back by March or April 2002. At the WTO level, and as a matter of procedure, the EC will shortly notify its labelling and traceability rules to the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards.
The US has indicated that it would refrain from bringing the EC to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism until such a time as the EC’s labelling and traceability regulations enter into force and are implemented.
“US launches drive to free world trade in genetically modified farm produce,” AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, 21 January 2002; ” U.S. Pressures Europe to Drop GMO Labeling Rules,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 16 January 2002; ICTSD Internal Files.