Reuters | November 9, 1999 | By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON - The United States said Tuesday it will seek negotiations in the World Trade Organization to establish clear science-based rules for the approval of genetically-modified crops, in case bilateral talks with the European Union fail.
In a briefing with reporters, officials from the U.S. Agriculture Department said Washington was pursuing a two-track strategy for resolving thorny trade issues involving the new generation of crops.
Isi Siddiqui, special trade advisor to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, said Washington's first choice was to try to sort through the problem with the EU. Most of the concern about GM crops, which contain genes borrowed from another organism, have originated in Europe, he said.
The United States has lost some $200 million in corn sales to Europe over the past two years because of delays in the EU approval process for GM crops. Many EU consumers fear GM crops could harm human health and the environment, even though U.S. regulatory scientists have determined them to be safe.
Earlier this month, Washington and Brussels agreed to establish a high-level experts' group on the GM crop issue. If that initiative fails to bear fruit over the next couple of months, the United States' second choice would be multilateral negotiations under the WTO, Siddiqui said.
James Grueff, a biotech trade negotiator for the USDA, said the United States hopes the declaration that comes out of the Seattle meeting of the WTO the week of the Nov. 29 will set the stage for talks on approval procedures for GM crops.
"We think a focus on effective approval procedures should be an important part of these negotiations," Grueff said.
Canada and Japan have made separate proposals to establish a working group to study GM crops issues. That remains a possible "backup plan," but the United States is concerned that a working group could delay concrete action on the issue for years, Siddiqui said.
Meanwhile, Washington opposes efforts by the European Union to dilute existing food safety trade rules by including a concept known as the "precautionary principle" as a negotiating objective in the talks. "We think that's completely inappropriate," Grueff said.
The precautionary principle raises a red flag for U.S. negotiators because it could allow countries to ban food products, such as GM crops or beef grown with artificial growth hormones, on the basis of unsubstantiated concerns.
"We think that would be a very negative development for WTO rules and for agricultural trade in general," Grueff said.
The United States is not opposed to using precaution in establishing food safety rules, Siddiqui. But the precautionary principle stretches that to the extreme, he said.
In a speech to the European Institute here Monday night, French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany defended the EU's ban on hormone-treated beef because of the possibility that some of the hormones could cause cancer in 20 or 30 years time.
"He wanted assurances that thirty years from now, nothing would happen. No one in the scientific community can give you that kind of decision," Siddiqui said.
