MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
28 February 06
LEAKED REPORT: U.S. MISLED
THE WORLD ON BIOTECH FOODS “VICTORY”
WTO ruling does not prevent
countries from restricting or banning GM
foods
Brussels (Belgium/Washington
DC (US) 28 February 2006 – Friends of the
Earth International made available online
today a confidential World Trade Organization
ruling on the trade dispute on biotech, or
genetically modified (GM) foods. [1]
The 1000-page report, which
was distributed earlier this month only to
the countries involved in the dispute, was
leaked to Friends of the Earth, which
published today February 28 a preliminary
analysis in the briefing ‘Looking behind the
US spin’. [2]
The leaked report reveals
that:
- despite claims of victory
by the US Administration and the
biotechnology industry -widely reported in
the media in February 2006- the three
countries that started the trade dispute
against the European Union (US, Canada and
Argentina) failed to win most of their
arguments;
- the World Trade
Organization (WTO) did not rule on two of the
most important questions, namely whether GM
foods are effectively the same as non-GM
foods and if they are safe.
“The WTO ruling is not a
victory for the US administration and the
biotech giants. Countries around the world
should continue to enforce tough legislation
protecting their citizens and the environment
from the risks of genetically modified
crops,” said Juan Lopez, GM Campaign
Coordinator of Friends of the Earth
International.
According to Friends of the
Earth International the WTO is not and should
not be the appropriate body to deal with
conflicts between trade rules and
environmental protection since it ignores the
internationally recognised ‘Precautionary
Principle’ and considers only trade
principles.
The leaked WTO report argues
that:
-
Europe’s 4-year moratorium on GM
Organisms (GMOs) only broke trade rules
because it caused “undue delay” in the
approval of new GM foods. The WTO dismissed
eight other complaints in relation to the
moratorium, and did not recommend any
further action, since the moratorium ended
in 2004.
-
There was also an “undue delay” in the
EU’s approval procedures for over 20
specified biotech products. However, eleven
other claims of the complainants related to
the product-specific EU measures were
dismissed by the WTO Panel.
-
National bans by EU member states broke
trade rules because the risk assessments
used by the countries in question did not
comply with the WTO requirements;
“This is the report that the
WTO didn’t want the public to see. It reveals
that the big corporations that stand behind
the WTO failed to get the big win they were
hoping for. Free trade proponents needed a
clear victory in this dispute to be able to
push governments in the EU and the developing
world to accept genetically modified food.
They failed and now is the time to build a
consensus that the WTO, with its
business-only agenda, is the wrong place to
decide on what people eat and how we protect
our environment.” said Adrian Bebb, GMO
campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe in
Brussels.
for more information
contact:
Juan Lopez, Friends of the Earth
International GM coordinator, Tel:
+34-6-25980582 (Spanish mobile number)
Adrian Bebb, Friends of the
Earth Europe GMO expert, Tel: +49 1609 490
1163 (German mobile number)
David Waskow, Friends of the
Earth US Tel: + 1 202 492 4660
notes to editors:
[1] The WTO report is
available online in two parts at:
http://www.foei.org/media/2006/WTO_report_descriptive.pd
f
http://www.foei.org/media/2006/WTO_report_findings.pdf
[2] The Friends of the Earth preliminary
analysis in the briefing ‘Looking behind the
US spin’ is online at
http://www.foei.org/media/2006/WTO_briefing.pdf
|
