Trade | IATP

U.S. Court Rules Against Mad Cow Testing

On August 29th, the U.S. Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. ruled against an appeal by Creekstone Farms to allow the farm to test slaughtered cattle for Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis (BSE or Mad Cow disease).

IATP Comment to USDA Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection

IATP's comment to the USDA's National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection on setting safety standards for other countries who want to export into the U.S.

New Global Contract Needed to Re-Assert Basic Rights, Protect Environment

Global institutions enforcing trade and finance rules have overridden fundamental human rights, stalled international development and harmed the environment, finds three new papers released today by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. A new system is badly needed.

Trade Talks Collapse, New Direction Needed

Today, trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva broke down. It has now been seven years since the Doha Round of negotiations began at the WTO. People want global agreements to solve food insecurity, to get them out of poverty and to avoid the devastating effects of climate change. If trade can help these goals, it should be used.

WTO Doha Negotiations Threaten to Encourage Inefficient Food Aid Delivery

Revised rules on food aid in the latest negotiating text at the World Trade Organization fail to reduce adequately the scope for the sale of food aid and encourage a highly wasteful, trade distorting system, according to a letter sent to trade ministers today from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Oxfam International.

The 2008 Farm Bill and the Doha Agenda

The U.S. Congress voted a new Farm Bill into law on May 22, 2008. The legislation was greeted with a resounding thumbs down in Geneva, where the WTO has its headquarters. The negotiators reaction echoed that of President Bush, who promptly vetoed the legislation, saying the Farm Bill would impede a conclusion to negotiations on the Doha Agenda at the WTO.

U.S. China Agreement on Food Safety: Terms and Enforcement Capacity

A review of the U.S. China food safety agreement summarizing the views of U.S. Congressional investigators who doubted that the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) could effectively implement and enforce the hundreds of pages of new food safety rules.

Bush Administration Prioritizes Trade Over Food Safety

The Bush Administration's Interagency Working Group (IWG) is pushing a flawed food safety system that prioritizes trade considerations over public health. Many of the IWG's recommendations and actions are designed to reduce import inspection and testing and instead emphasize safety certification of foreign import facilities.

Import Food Safety in the Twilight of the Bush Administration

In 2007, 30 million pounds of ground beef was pulled off the U.S. market in a series of twenty recalls because of contamination concerns. The recalls highlight serious concerns in our deregulated food safety system. Over the last decade we've reduced the number of food safety inspectors and instead rely more on the food industry to regulate itself.

Comment to FDA on Third Party Certification Programs

IATP submitted this comment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about Third Party Certification programs in other countries to ensure food safety. We identified problems in both concept and in relation to other food safety programs, particularly in relation to import re-inspection and product testing.