By James Kanter
The European agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, warned
farm ministers that Europe?s resistance to importing genetically modified
products like livestock feed was contributing to the rising cost of raising
pigs and chickens and could pose a threat to the meat industry.
Her warning, made during a closed-door lunch in Brussels, highlighted
renewed debate over whether Europe could afford to impose tougher rules on
genetically modified products than other parts of the world.

Some European officials say the region should maintain its skeptical
stance toward the technology on safety grounds, while others argue for a
more pragmatic approach to enhance the region?s competitiveness and help the
agricultural sector.

Michael Mann, a spokesman for Ms. Fischer Boel, said Monday that the
European Union?s zero-tolerance policy toward genetically modified foods
comes at ?potential major cost.?

One reason European policies toward genetically modified feed raise
costs is that ships bound for Europe must be thoroughly cleaned so feed for
Europe is not mixed with feed grown from seeds that have not been approved
for use in the European Union.

At the lunch, Ms. Fischer Boel did not explicitly recommend relaxing
the rules, according to one official from a European Union member that
broadly opposes genetically modified products. But she seemed to be stepping
up pressure for a modification of the policy, said the official, who asked
not to be identified.

Germany?s agriculture minister, Horst Seehofer, called on Monday for
the European Union to suspend its approval procedure for new genetically
modified crops and seeds, demanding that governments review how such
products can be used in Europe.

Before the meeting, he said that this system ?should be stopped, and
we should check: can the procedures stay as they are??

Mr. Seehofer called the current system, which has been criticized by
several European Union nations, ?highly unsatisfactory.?

Environmental groups that oppose easing the rules on imports of
genetically modified products say many of the arguments for relaxing the
policy on modified feed are specious.

Helen Holder, an expert on genetically modified food with Friends of
the Earth Europe in Brussels, said prices were rising because more farmers
in the United States and elsewhere were growing crops for biofuels as demand
was rising for crops to feed livestock.

Rather than relaxing its import rules, Ms. Holder said, the European
Union should drop proposals to require more use of biofuels and change rules
so farmers can use more home-grown feeds.

?The E.U. needs to stand firm and defend its biosafety rules,? she
said.
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