Reuters | November 10, 1999 | By Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON - Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman was cited as saying Wednesday he was hopeful that World Trade Organization members would agree early next month to launch meaningful negotiations on further farm trade reform.
The story goes on to say that one issue that could overshadow the Seattle meeting is the growing controversy over genetically modified crops.
Glickman was quoted as saying, "It's too early to tell" whether the intense opposition to GM crops from groups such as Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth could block a new agricultural trade agreement, "But my judgment going in is that these are severable topics." Glickman said that eliminating export subsidies and reducing agricultural tariffs - two key U.S. goals for the talks - for example, "are different issues from how you handle new technology."
Tim Galvin, administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service, who sat in on the interview, was cited as saying that one idea under consideration is separating the "biotech discussions ... from other negotiations on agriculture so you'd have a stand-alone debate on what to do with biotech."
While some countries have moved to require labels on products containing GM ingredients, Glickman was further quoted as saying, "I think the main thing we need to do here is have worldwide trading systems and approval systems that are science-based, that are transparent and that are easily understandable. We have that here in the United States. We just don't have it in the rest of the world, particularly the European Union," he said.
"That makes it virtually impossible for our farmers to know what is permissible to be let in and what isn't."
In recent years, U.S. farmers have lost some $200 million in corn sales to Europe of consumer-driven delays in the EU approval system for GM crops.
