GMW: WTO to bulldoze GM bans on GMOs?

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GMW: WTO to bulldoze GM bans on GMOs?

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:01:05 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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links to lots of resources at end of press release

 

EXCERPT: " The US wants the WTO to bulldoze GMO restrictions and to

impose the biotech industry's corporate agenda onto the world in the name

of free trade. Governments must stand up to this arrogant bullying,

exercise our right to ban GMOs and to decide what we eat. "

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WTO to bulldoze GM bans on GMOs?

Greenpeace International, Jul 28, 2005

http://www.ems.org/nws/2005/07/28/wto_to_bulldoze_

 

Geneva, 28 July 2005 - The right of consumers to say 'no' to

genetically modified (GM) food is under attack by the World Trade

Organisation

(WTO), Greenpeace warned today.

 

As trade leaders gathered for the General Council meeting at the WTO's

headquarters in Geneva (1), 20 Greenpeace activists, imitating US

biotech giant Monsanto, drove a 'WTO steamroller' over a map of Europe

made

out of non-GE food products. The activists were protesting against the

Bush Administration for suing the European Union because it has

restricted genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

 

" The US wants the WTO to bulldoze GMO restrictions and to impose the

biotech industry's corporate agenda onto the world in the name of free

trade. Governments must stand up to this arrogant bullying, exercise our

right to ban GMOs and to decide what we eat. They must not let Bush and

the WTO to overrule public opinion, environmental concerns, national or

international laws, " said Daniel Mittler, trade policy advisor at

Greenpeace International.

 

Consumers in Europe and around the world are rejecting GM-food (2), but

the EU Commission responded to the WTO complaint by urging European

countries to concede to WTO pressure and lift their national bans on

GMOs.

In a vote this June, however, EU member states stood firm when a clear

majority voted in favour of keeping the existing national bans in place

(3). The preliminary results of the WTO trade war on GMOs was expected

to be shared secretly with the dispute parties on August 5th 2005, but

delayed to October yesterday (4).

 

The US complaint does not only target the EU, it threatens restrictions

on GMOs worldwide. Under the UN Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (5),

countries have the right to regulate and reject GMOs if they are seen as

a threat to the environment or public health. By attacking the EU, the

US is giving a clear signal to developing countries that it will use

the WTO against them if they try to restrict GMOs.

 

Greenpeace thinks that the WTO is an inappropriate and incompetent body

to deal with environmental issues such as GMOs. " The future of the food

we eat must not be decided by a secretive WTO court made up of trade

policy experts. Governments must take urgent action to restrict the power

of the WTO so it cannot be used to threaten our environmental laws and

human rights again, " concluded Mittler.

 

For further information please contact

Clement Tolusso, Press Officer, Greenpeace Switzerland, +41.792.134.106

Daniel Mittler, Trade Policy Advisor, Greenpeace International,

+49.171.876.5345

Bruno Heinzer, GE Campaigner, Greenpeace Switzerland, +41.794.008.831

 

Photos/video available

Greenpeace International Photo Desk, John Novis, +31.653.819.121;

Greenpeace International Video Desk, Michael Nagasaka, +31.646.166.309

 

Notes to Editors

 

(1) The General Council is the highest decision making body of the WTO

outside of Ministerials and is meeting from July 27th-29th 2005.

Negotiators are trying to agree on a plan for global trade in the run

up to

the next WTO Ministerial meeting, scheduled to take place in Hong Kong

from December 13th-18th 2005.

 

(2) According to the Eurobarometer poll (55.2), 95% of EU consumers

want the right to choose GM-free food, 86% want more information about GM

food and 60% think that GM crops could have negative effects on the

environment. The poll also indicates

that over 70% of EU consumers reject GM food. For more information on

consumer rejection see Greenpeace's European Markets

 

Report at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/european-markets-report-20\

05#

For other consumer reports please see:

China:

http://www.greenpeace.org.au/truefood/news2.html?mode=intl & newsid=225

Canada: http://www.biotech-info.net/consumers_reject.html

Russia:

http://www.cee-foodindustry.com/productnews/news.asp?id=60290 & k=russians-reject-\

gm

 

(3) EU Council votes on safeguards and GM maize MON863 (Luxemburg 24

June 2005)

 

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/793 & format=HTM\

L & aged=0 & language=EN & guiLanguage=en

Greenpeace background briefing on EU National bans:

http://eu.greenpeace.org/downloads/gmo/NationalBans0507.pdf

 

(4) The interim report of the WTO panel was supposed to be shared with

the US, Canada, Argentina and the EU, who are all parties of the

dispute, on August 5 2005. However, the panel announced on July 28th,

that

due to the complexity of the issue, the case will be further delayed and

the final result will not be issued until December. For further

information please see Greenpeace briefing: " The US assault on

Biosafety - The

WTO dispute on GMOs " at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/the-us-assault-on-biosafte\

y

 

(5) The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is the first international

agreement to deal with the transboundary shipment of GMOs. It gives

countries the right to withhold imports of GMOs that they believe carry

environmental or health risks. The Protocol came into

force on 11 September 2003.

 

Greenpeace is part of the international " Bite back " campaign, a global

coalition of 725 organisations, representing over 55 million people,

which demands that farmers and consumers, not the WTO, should decide what

they farm and eat. See www.bite-back.org.

 

Greenpeace International

Web: http://www.greenpeace.org

Ottho Heldringstraat 5

1066 AZ Amsterdam

The Netherlands

 

Press Desk Hotline +31 (0) 629001141

General media Inquiries +31 (0) 646162038

E-mail: patrizia.cuonzo

Tel: +31 (0) 20 5148150

Press Desk Fax +31 (0) 5148156

 

 

 

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