By Bradley S. Klappe

Austria has lifted a ban on importing and processing genetically
modified corn as part of the European Union's efforts to comply with a
World Trade Organization ruling on biotech foods, the EU said Tuesday.
At a regular meeting of the organization, the 27-nation EU informed
trading partners that it was cooperating in good faith with Argentina,
Canada and the United States, which have successfully pressed their
cases at the WTO.

The EU said it was taking steps to comply with a 2006 ruling that
European countries illegally hindered the sale of genetically modified
foods and cited the decision of the Austrian government, long one of
Europe's most resistant, to allow genetically modified maize to be
imported and processed.

The bloc said the ban was lifted on May 27.

Robert Prochazka at the Austrian mission in Geneva confirmed that his
country implemented an EU decision on corn last month. It doesn't allow
for the genetically modified crop to be planted in Austria, he said.

Genetically modified foods are highly sensitive on both sides of the
Atlantic. European governments such as Germany and France, as well as a
number of environmental groups, contend that many such crops are
potentially unsafe for humans and the environment.

But the WTO in November 2006 concluded that the European Union had
breached commitments from 1998-2004 with respect to 21 products,
including types of oilseed rape, maize and cotton. It added that
individual bans in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and
Luxembourg were illegal, while sidestepping examinations of current EU
legislation and whether biotech foods are actually safe.

The European Union had claimed the 2006 ruling was only theoretical
since it officially ended its six-year moratorium on the products in
2004 by allowing onto the market a modified strain of sweet corn, grown
mainly in the United States.

The U.S. said Tuesday that biotechnology could help offset some of the
problems incurred by higher prices for food staples.

"The recent rise in world food prices reinforces the importance of the
EC implementing its WTO commitments to adopt timely, science-based
decisions on agricultural products developed using modern
biotechnology," the U.S. said in a statement.

Argentina and Canada said they were extending until August 12 a deadline
for EU compliance with the WTO ruling.


www.checkbiotech.org