Association of European Consumers | By Bengt Ingerstam, president AEC | AEC Newsletter No 6, 2001
We are concerned about the discussions at the WTO Committee on Agriculture in Geneva, 23-25 July. WTO Members covered six areas: export subsidies, export credits, state trading enterprises, export taxes and restrictions, food security, and food safety. The European Union submitted an important paper on food safety at this meeting. In the document, the EU proposed criteria for the application of precaution under the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) that would serve as guidelines for WTO dispute panels.
AEC - Association of European Consumers, environmentally and socially aware, has called for the precautionary principle to be included in WTO and we agree with the EU that this issue must be addressed. There is strong criticism against the WTO today. We feel the WTO rules require WTO Members to force consumers to accept unsafe food. Also there is fear due to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Europe's experiences with mad cow disease, and food contamination as well as food irradiation. The list is long of potential trade wars.
We welcome that the WTO Committee discussed food safety and specifically the need for consumer protection on the one hand and the need to avoid protectionism on the other.
Efforts by the EU to bring food safety and animal welfare onto the WTO agenda, however, were strongly opposed by the US and the Cairns Group of food exporting countries. AEC urges these parties to listen to the consumers who are in fact their market. We will not buy products that are out of touch with the new global reality: As consumers, we are making our voice heard.Association of European Consumers:
