March 30, 2000 / Reuters / Gilbert Le Gras
BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina Sustainable Development Secretary Oscar Massei was cited as saying in this story that Argentina needs a new food export and environmental plan or will risk losing market share if it fails to comply with the recently adopted Biosafety Protocol, adding, "Given the role we played...earlier this year in the passage of the Biosafety Protocol, Argentina has taken a position that will surely have a bearing on a large part of its agricultural exports and farmers' seeding decisions."
The story says that the Biosafety Protocol inked in Montreal in January will allow countries to use precautions when making decisions on imports of genetically modified crops. But it would also have equal standing with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules that require such decisions to be based on sound science.
The European Commission, which has already released a White Paper on food safety, is expected to propose a threshold for labelling GM inputs in animal feed around September 2000.
Massei was further quoted as saying, "We have to think about how Argentina will market organic food, without rejecting the development of biotechnology, during the interval foreseen in the Protocol."
While the United States accounted for 72 percent of global area planted to genetically altered crops in 1999 at 28.7 million hectares, Argentina was second at 6.7 million hectares, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) non-profit agency found.
Some 54 percent of the world's genetically altered crops last year was soybean and 28 percent was corn, the ISAAA said.
The story notes that Argentine grain and oilseed exports of $7.4 billion last year accounted for 32 percent of the South American nation's overall $23.3 billion in shipments.
According to industry newsletter Oil World, the European Union imported an estimated 16 million tonnes of soybeans between July 1998 and June 1999. The United States and Argentina are leading suppliers.
(posted without permission)
