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

If the men in white coats can?t get their genetically modified foods onto
the dining tables of Europe via the World Trade Organisation, the sugar bowl
is their next best bet, January 2006 by Stephen Cadogan.

European consumers, still unequivocally anti-GM, are on a collision course
with the WTO, and they have only a month to wait for the impact, to the end
of February.

That?s when the WTO office in Geneva will announce the results of their
arbitration on complaints by Canada, Argentina and the US, that EU member
states are blocking GM imports.

Up to now, the WTO has been just a name in the news for most consumers. It
has been a source of nightmares for farmers, as it bids to reduce the
barriers in agricultural trade which protect EU farms from cheaper imports.

But the WTO will get personal with consumers next month if, as expected, it
rules against the EU, and enforces the arrival of genetically modified foods
here.

EU farmers already know how powerful the World Trade Organisation is. It was
their ruling on complaints by Australia, Brazil and Thailand that ultimately
led to last November?s EU sugar industry reform, which is likely to end
sugar processing in Ireland - and eventually make GM sugar the only choice
for most consumers.

And a WTO brokered agreement last December to phase out all export subsidies
in world agriculture by 2013 was a second blow to EU farmers, sure to
squeeze thousands of them out of business. Within months, WTO negotiations
will resume with an EU offer on the table to reduce by nearly half the
import barriers which keep out cheaper food imports. If that is accepted,
more and more will have to give up farming in Europe.

Opening Europe up to GM foods in February would complete a knockout year for
the WTO, and would bring the politics of world trade right into the lives of
the 54% of EU citizens in last year?s European Commission opinion poll who
said GM foods are dangerous.

It could also be the incident to force Europe to stand its ground against
the world trade police.

Brussels sources have insisted that a WTO ruling will not change their
convoluted approvals procedures for GM material.

?The bottom line for us is that nothing is put on to the market unless we
have done thorough investigations and proved that there is no environmental
or health risk from that product,? said a Commission source.

The Brussels bluster is reassuring for member states such as Luxembourg,
Greece and Austria, which consistently vote against approval of GMO products
in the EU.

But if the WTO rules against the EU, and the EU is determined not to alter
its approach to GM material, Brussels will have to pay Canada, Argentina and
the US billions in compensation for lost trade. If Brussels appeals the WTO
ruling on a point of law, the EU may only be putting off the inevitable.

Or we can bow down to Canada, Argentina and the US, and push ahead with
approvals for importing GM crops for food, feed and seed.

[www.irishexaminer.com]

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