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

Hundreds of new GM foods and crops could soon be entering Britain and
Europe, January 2006 by Sean Poulter.

The prospect follows a successful challenge by the U.S. government to EU
import restrictions.

The ruling by the World Trade Organisation will let food producers in the
U.S., Canada, Argentina and Australia sell huge quantities of processed food
containing GM ingredients into the UK.

The products include corn chips, tortillas, bread products, biscuits and
ready meals. The decision would also ban regional councils in the UK, and
the governments in Scotland and Wales, from declaring themselves GM-free
zones.

The WTO has decided that attempts by EU nations to slow approvals for GM
foods - or ban them outright - amount to an illegal restraint of free trade.

The judgment will be sent to governments on January 5, and is due to be made
public in March.

The EU is likely to appeal, a process that could take six months.

If the WTO stands by its original ruling, the EU will have to show that it
accepts GM crops and food produced overseas or face the prospect of import
tariffs on goods and food sent to the U.S. and other countries.

The final outcome should be known next autumn.

The leaked ruling has been widely condemned by green and consumer groups in
Britain and Europe. Friends of the Earth GM campaigner Clare Oxborrow said:
'lt's scandalous that world trade rules protect business interests at the
expense of our health and the environment.

'Biotech firms have tried and failed to push their GM foods in Europe for
the last ten years. Now, as a desperate last resort, they have joined forces
with the pro-GM U.S. Government to use trade rules to try and farce their
unwanted GM foods on to our plates.

'The WTO should not have the right to overrule the majority of the UK and
European public. The UK Government must stand up for our right to eat
GM-free food and ensure Europe doesn't back down.'

In the U.S., thousands of processed foods, ranging from cakes, biscuits and
snacks to chocolate, contain GM soya or maize. Most are banned from the EU
on the basis that the GM ingredient has not been through a safety assessment
here.

The Americans have successfully argued, however, that the EU safety regime
has been unfairly manipulated to block their GM products, harming their
farmers.

If the EU ignores the WTO ruling, the Americans would be legally entitled to
retaliate by imposing multi-million dollar import duties an European goods.

The U.S. GM industry is also lobbying the WTO to outlaw EU labelling rules
which require products made with a GM ingredient, to declare the fact. The
Americans say this allows consumers to unfairly discriminate against GM
foods.

The pressure from the U.S. administration has already had a significant
effect.

Bureaucrats an the European Commission have tried to appease the Americans
by smoothing the path for GM crops and food. The Commission even overruled
member states to approve a number of controversial ingredients.

Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, a delegate to the WTO, said European nations
should be able to set their own food and safety policies. She said: 'The
right of individual countries to decide whether or not to allow GM organisms
in their food chains or their environment is a key element of the democratic
principles which are supposed to underpin the EU itself.'

www.checkbiotech.org

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