Friends of the Earth International
PRESS RELEASE
US-Europe GM trade war: WTO AND US
CHALLENGED TO LISTEN TO THE PUBLIC
September 11, 2003, Cancun (Mexico) /
Brussels (Belgium) - Stakes were raised today
in the Europe-US trade dispute over
genetically modified (GM) food and farming as
a new alliance of civil society groups
pledged to create an unprecedented mass
citizen objection to the dispute [1].
The organisations involved [2], spanning
more than 140 countries, aim at collecting
objections from citizens from all 146 World
Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries, as
a challenge to the WTO's secretive trade
dispute mechanisms.
The civil society groups representing
consumers, environmentalists, farmers, trade
unionists and developing countries, launched
their campaign on the day the United Nations
Biosafety Protocol [3] regulating GM food
worldwide comes into force, September 11,
2003.
The new campaign launched today - 'Bite
Back: WTO hands off our food' - invites the
public to make their own legal submissions to
the GM dispute in the form of a citizen's
objection [4], insisting that the WTO must
respect people's right to choose what they
eat and allow them to protect their
environment.
The WTO, currently holding its 5th
Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, promotes its
disputes mechanism as its "most individual
contribution" to the stability of the global
economy. However it is conducted in secrecy
with no access to the general public. The
'Bite Back' campaign (online at
www.bite-back.org ) will directly challenge
this and put the WTO inadequacies in dealing
with food in the public spotlight.
If the WTO deems that the European Union
(EU) is breaking trade rules it will allow
the US to force Europe to approve more GM
foods and crops - or face huge financial
penalties.
The Biosafety Protocol is the first treaty
that officially seeks to protect biological
diversity from the potential risks posed by
GM organisms (GMOs). It will require all
exporters of GMOs which are to be released
into the environment to take measures to
prevent contamination of GM seed products by
implementing an 'identity preservation'
system. It also allows countries to take a
precautionary approach if faced with
scientific uncertainty over the impacts on
the environment.
Lianas Stupples of Friends of the Earth
said:
"The US Administration, lobbied by the
likes of biotech giant Monsanto, is using the
undemocratic and secretive WTO to force feed
the world genetically modified foods. The
public should have the right to decide what
they eat. Decisions about our food should not
be made by the WTO or by Monsanto. It is
clear that the WTO is neither fit nor
independent enough to judge whether the
public should eat GM foods or not."
For more information please contact: In
Cancun: Liana Stupples, +52 9981204564
Alexandra Wandel +52 9981 20 45 86 or in
Europe: Adrian Bebb, +49 160 949 01163
Juan Lopez, Biosafety Protocol expert,
+32-2-542 01 87
Notes to Editors:
[1] After the US together with Canada and
Argentina submitted a complaint to the WTO
over the EU's de facto moratorium on GMOs,
the WTO established a panel on 29 August. The
US and EU are now preparing their
submissions. A verdict is expected for spring
2004.
[2] The campaign was launched by Friends
of the Earth International with support of
José Bové's Confederation Paysanne, Vandana
Shiva's Research Foundation for Science,
Technology & Ecology, Lori Wallach's
Public Citizen, the trade union network
Public Services International, the
International Gender and Trade Network and
more
[3] information on the Biosafety Protocol
at:
www.foeeurope.org/biteback/download/factsheet_biosafety_protocol.pdf
[4] The citizen's objection is a legal
submission to the WTO. In general there is
great resistance by WTO Members to
intervention of non-members in their
disputes.
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