Agence France Presse | By Michael Thurston | July 2, 2003
European lawmakers adopted Wednesday new rules on the labelling of genetically-modified foodstuffs, saying they hoped it would ease a fierce row with the US, but Washington remained unimpressed.
EU consumer protection commissioner David Byrne said he hoped the agreement would lead the US to drop a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization over the EU's de facto moratorium on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).
But a US official said the US would not abandon the WTO complaint, saying the new EU legislation will make the issue more complicated, not less.
"No one's going to jump to conclusions that the vote today ends the debate and we're going to move on to something else. It's not that simple," said an agricultural official at the US mission to the EU in Brussels.
He was speaking after the European parliament in Strasbourg agreed two new directives that will require food and animal feed to be labelled if it contains at least 0.9 percent of GM ingredients.
The law could be adopted by European Union member states in the autumn, allowing the EU to lift the ban on GM products, which has been in place since 1999.
Consumer groups welcomed the move, saying it was what the ordinary public wants.
"Ninety-four percent of Europeans want their food labelled. Today's vote is clearly a victory in this direction," said Aude L'Hirondelle of the European Community of Consumer Cooperatives.
Environmentalists also welcomed the vote, saying it was a "historic victory for consumers" and a good example of Europe standing up to pressure from the United States over GM products.
"This vote is a slap in the face of the US administration, which thought that by bullying and waving the WTO stick Europe, and eventually others, would swallow its GMOS policy," said Greenpeace expert Eric Gall.
Opinion polls suggest that European consumers are deeply suspicious of "Frankenfoods". But the US government has been lobbying hard for GM products on behalf of its biotechnology food industry.
The issue has moved rapidly up the political agenda since Washington complained to the WTO over the EU moratorium in May.
US President George W. Bush last week said the EU ban contributed to famine in Africa by hampering African efforts to harness biotechnology to fight food shortages, sparking an angry response from the EU.
After the Strasbourg vote, EU commissioner Byrne argued that Washington should drop the WTO case because the new rules would effectively end the EU ban on GM products.
"The current case relates to the existence of the de facto moratorium, it would seem to me that the case will fall by the wayside because .. there's nothing to litigate for the WTO," he said.
But in the US farmers reacted with dismay at the EU parliament vote. "In terms of legislation, we are very disappointed in it," US National Corn Growers Association trade specialist Hayden Milberg said.
"We believe it will lead to further hindrances to free and fair trade between farmers in the United States and the European consumers," he said.
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom welcomed the parliamentary vote in Strasbourg.
"It will reinforce our international credibility and will certainly help in building public confidence in new technologies," she said.
"We will be able to demonstrate to the US and to other trading partners that our new regulatory framework works and the WTO case is misplaced," she added.
British conservative Euro deputy Caroline Jackson said the move would force food manufacturers to do more to persuade consumers that GM products are safe.
"Such companies have a lot of public opposition to overcome, so the ball is in their court," she said.Agence France Presse:
