www.checkbiotech.org ; www.czu.cz ; www.raupp.info

The European Union vowed Thursday to maintain its system for approving
genetically engineered seeds, after the World Trade Organization confirmed a
ruling that found the previous approvals practices too slow, May 2006.

In a confidential ruling, WTO arbitrators on Wednesday confirmed a
February decision that said the EU's former ban on new biotech seeds from
companies like Monsanto DuPont and Syngenta broke international trade laws.
The ruling does not challenge the EU's food approvals system, the bloc says,
because it ended a six-year moratorium in 2004.

"Nothing in this panel report will compel us to change that framework," said
Peter Power, the European Commission spokesman on trade. "The EU will
continue to set its own rules on the import and sale of genetically modified
food," he added, saying that nine new biotech products have been approved in
the past year.

The ban, led by nations like France, Austria and Italy, cost American
exporters $300 million a year in the $5.5 billion global biotech market,
U.S. industry groups have said. The EU, which grows less than 1 percent of
the world's genetically modified crops, has 98 million hectares, or 242
million acres, of global arable land, second only to the United States.

The WTO ruling may set a precedent for countries like India, Japan or Russia
that require the labeling of foods with gene-altered ingredients.

The commission, the EU's executive body, says new laws in place since 2004
allow biotech seeds to be planted, traced and labeled, pointing to more than
30 modified products approved for marketing in the 25-nation bloc. New
procedures also allow the import of gene-altered foods and give the
commission the final say if governments can not agree on a product.

"The EU just has to do risk assessments" to justify bans on new biotech
approvals, said Adrian Bebb, a campaigner at environmental group Friends of
the Earth. "The WTO doesn't recommend any action on the moratorium," that
ended, he said.

Nor does the WTO ruling strike down the bloc's right to treat the technology
differently from conventional crops.

When the initial ruling came out, the commission described it as "largely of
historical interest" and blamed national governments for continuing to
obstruct new approvals.

The United States argued that the EU approval process for imports of biotech
foods led to unnecessary delays resulting in a trade barrier. The EU said
popular opposition - more than half of the region's 450 million consumers
consider gene-engineered foods to be dangerous, according to an EU poll last
June - meant consumers already were avoiding modified foods.

Governments in countries like Germany and France, as well as activists
including Greenpeace International, say the crops threaten human health and
the environment. The U.S. says the seeds are as safe as conventional seeds.

"Regardless of the outcome of this case, it is clear that biotechnology is
here to stay," said Christian Verschueren, head of the Brussels-based
CropLife International, which represents companies like Monsanto and DuPont.
"Biotech plantings are even happening in the EU," he said, citing Spain,
France, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Germany, "because of the benefits
they bring."
[www.iht.com]

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