Agence France Presse | July 1, 2003
The head of the European Parliament Tuesday angrily rejected US "lectures" about genetically modified organisms as deputies debated new laws that would allow an EU ban on GMOs to be lifted.
The issue has moved rapidly up the political agenda since Washington complained to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the de facto ban on GMO products imposed by the European Union since 1999.
In the latest broadside of the transatlantic battle, European Parliament president Pat Cox dismissed US arguments that the ban contributed to famine in Africa.
"I hope we will be passing legislation on tracing and labelling of GMOs and that is part of a contribution by the European institutions to this debate," he told reporters.
"But I completely and totally reject the proposition of linking the GMO debate to famine in Africa. This is not a sustainable argument," Cox said, arguing the EU gave three times more aid to Africa than the United States.
"So we don't need to be lectured on humanitarian priorities."
Opinion polls suggest that European consumers are deeply suspicious of "Frankenfoods". But the US government has been lobbying hard for GMOs on behalf of its biotechnology food industry.
The rift was exposed afresh at an EU-US summit in Washington last week after US President George W. Bush said the EU ban had a chilling effect on African efforts to harness biotechnology to fight famine.
The United States, angry at the EU's failure so far to lift its four-year-old moratorium on GMOs, filed the complaint with the WTO in May.
But Brussels said the timing of the complaint was "unfortunate" with the EU already moving to lift the ban by imposing new regulations on the biotech industry.
Members of the European Parliament Tuesday debated two new laws that will impose strict rules for labelling and tracing GMO products in food and animal feed.
The MEPs are expected to pass the legislation when they vote on Wednesday and it could then be adopted by EU member states in the autumn, allowing authorisation of new GMO products to resume.
The new EU legislation would require food and animal feed to be labelled if it contains at least 0.9 percent of GMO ingredients.
Under the tracing directive, companies would have to retain information on the progress of GMO products through the production and distribution chains.
"The idea behind these laws is both deeply democratic and market oriented: to let people make their own choice," Green MEPs said in an open letter to President Bush.
"In a spirit of solidarity we believe that Americans should have the same right as Europeans will now have under our GM labelling laws -- the right to choose," they said.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, whose country has just handed over the EU presidency to Italy, said the bloc had explained its position to Bush at the US-EU summit.
He called for emotions to be cooled over the issue. "Maybe there were angry comments in American newspapers. This always happens when there is a pressure in order to promote their policy," he said.
"But we must not get nervous if there are angry comments in papers. We must be very constant, continue our policy and if we have frank discussions we will find solutions."Agence France Presse:
