Reuters | October 7, 1999 | Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON - David Aaron, US Commerce Department Undersecretary for International Trade, was cited as telling a Senate Finance Committee panel on international trade during a hearing on upcoming trade negotiations that biotech products have already proven their safety, despite the fears of European and a growing number of other consumers around the world, adding, "Thirteen years of U.S. experience with biotech products have produced no evidence of food safety risks beyond those of their natural counterparts." There has been "not one rash, not one cough, not one sore throat, not one headache attributable to biotech products."
The story says that despite that safety record, concerns over genetically-modified (GM) organisms and other new biotech food products could dominate the World Trade Organisation talks, which are set to begin November 30 in Seattle.
They also present a problem for U.S. farmers, who must decide whether to continue planting the crops that federal regulators say are safe, but which are beginning to have a stigma in the commercial market because of consumer fears that have spread from Europe to other countries.
Aaron was cited as telling the panel the credibility of European Union officials on food safety issues has been badly damaged by episodes such as the "mad cow" beef scare earlier this decade and the discovery of dioxin in animal feed this year.
To compensate, they have lashed out at GM crops - such new corn and soybean varieties grown in the United States - and other biotech food products even though there is no evidence of food safety risk, adding, "It's very much like the old 'Three Stooges' movie where Moe keeps hitting his thumb with a hammer and turns around and hits Curly. We're Curly."
Sen. Charles Grassley, a Iowa Republican, who chairs the Finance subcommittee on international trade was cited as saying that while Canada has proposed setting up a WTO "working committee" to address biotech issues, the United States has submitted only a general proposal to the WTO, adding, "Doesn't that send the wrong signal? Shouldn't other countries be reacting to our plan?"
James Murphy, assistant U.S. trade negotiator for agricultural affairs, was cited as saying the United States would have a more specific biotech proposal by the Seattle meeting, and that for now, the U.S. Trade Representative is continuing to meet with agricultural groups and other Clinton administration agencies to put together a final plan.
Murphy added that however, the issue is not what the U.S. objectives are in biotech, but how best to achieve them.
The United States supports a science-based approval system that produces predictable outcomes and is readily understandable to outside observers, he said. That stands in contrast to the EU system, which has been frozen for more than year because of domestic political concerns.
