www.czu.cz ; www.usab-tm.ro ; www.raupp.info

Stakeholders in the food chain, along with technocrats and politicians in
Brussels, must wait until October this year to get the final word from the
WTO on the GM complaint filed by the US, Canada and Argentina, reports
Lindsey Partos, June 2005.

These three major GM crop producing countries set off to the world?s trade
arbiter two years ago, complaining that the EU?s moratorium on approvals of
genetically modified organisms was a barrier to trade.

Chairman of the GM dispute panel at the World Trade Organisation, Swiss
trade diplomat Christian Haberli, recently told the parties that the panel?s
ruling, due by the end of June, was now being put off until the end of
October.

Haberli cited the complexity of the case, the large amount of documentation
submitted, as well as the decision to consult with scientific experts on
technical issues raised as the reasons for the delay.

A de facto moratorium in place since 1998 saw Europe refusing to approve any
new GM cops for entry into the food chain.

But since the US complaint was issued, Brussels has brought in tough new
labelling legislation for GM ingredients: the labels alert consumers to any
engineered foodstuffs used in a food recipe.

Through greater transparency for the consumer the new rules, seen by critics
as Europe caving into pressure from the US, actually ushered in the
possibility for new GM approvals and heralded an end to the moratorium.

But since their introduction, only two products have been cleared for
import: a GM sweetcorn supplied by Swiss biotech firm Syngenta and Monsanto?
s MON810 biotech maize, engineered to be resistant to the European corn
borer.

The lack of approvals, despite a host of applications, reflects the deep
divisions in Europe over GM acceptance.

And while the biotech companies continue to push forward their applications
for approval, there is little chance the European food industry will
actually use the GM ingredients in their formulations.

By all accounts, the business savvy food maker, who cannot afford to lose
sales, will opt to skip the use of GM ingredients in their European food
formulations: knowing, as they do, that the cynical European consumer will
refuse to buy any GM food product.

[www.nutraingredients.com]

------------------------------------------
Posted to Phorum via PhorumMail