US Eager for Turnaround in European Biotech Rules
Date: 10-Jan-08
Country: US
Author: Missy Ryan
The American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest US farm group, "remains frustrated with the EU's continued disregard for its trade obligations," said Russell Williams, who follows biotechnology for the nation's largest farm group.
The World Trade Organization's deadline week may intensify trans-Atlantic tensions in the case, which has dragged on for years, if the United States decides to ask the WTO court to formally investigate whether Europe must do more to speed its approval of biotech crops, now the norm for many US farmers.
"In the past year, the EU has only approved four products while 40-plus remain bottled up in the bureaucratic process. AFBF believes that moving towards retaliatory action is the only way that the EU will fully understand the seriousness of the US position," he said.
Canada and Argentina also have challenged the EU ban, but European officials say they have taken steps to improve its process for giving a green light to new imports of genetically modified, or GM, imports.
More swift approval of biotech imports in Europe would be a boon for US producers growing crops genetically altered to withstand herbicide, repel pests and improve yields.
In 2007, GM, crops were found on 91 percent of US soybean acres, and 73 percent of US corn acres, according to the Agriculture Department.
Corn and soybeans are two mainstays of US farm exports, projected to hit a record US$91 billion in fiscal 2008.
GM crop was planted on 87 percent of cotton acres. The United States is the world's largest exporter of cotton.
The agriculture industry in the United States argues that EU policy chokes off a valuable export stream and complicates things for growers and exporters who must juggle a patchwork of import policies among their customers.
The issue has been among the concerns that have had members of Congress crying foul.
European officials have said they're working to smooth the approval process, but they are equally aware that European attitudes toward GM products often differ from widespread acceptance found in the United States.
If the United States does pursue a compliance panel, and the WTO sides with Washington, the case could ultimately lead to trade retaliation.
Mariann Fischer Boel, Europe's top agriculture official, has taken a cautious tone in discussing the subject, suggesting that no unsafe products should be foisted upon consumers. But she also has noted that "times are changing" in world farming techniques.
"Where science has given a product a clean bill of health, that fact must be paramount as we follow the authorization procedure. And it is difficult to understand that an approval procedure can take four to six years in Europe, and less than a year elsewhere," she wrote recently on her blog.
