*EPF216 05/13/2003
USTR's Zoellick Says Spreading Fear Forced WTO Biotech Challenge
(EU moratorium seen posing increased harm to developing countries) (560)

By Bruce Odessey
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick says that after nearly five years the United States is finally acting , to challenge in the World Trade Organization (WTO) the European Union (EU) moratorium on food derived from biotechnology because harm from the EU stalling has begun to spread globally.

At issue is the halting of EU approval, starting in October 1998, of any new agricultural biotech products for planting or import. Zoellick blamed the regulatory impasse on some EU member states that have blocked new biotech applications in what he said was a violation of the EU's own rules and a rejection of the EU's own scientific committees' advice.

At a May 13 briefing announcing initiation of consultations, the first step in the WTO dispute-settlement process, he said that despite attempts by the European Commission to resolve the impasse, those EU member states have erected hurdle after hurdle.

"The commission does not control this one," Zoellick said. "This is one that the member states have controlled."

He said the EU moratorium was effectively halting development of biotechnology, blocking its benefits, especially in developing countries. Developing countries fear to plant any biotech crops because they are concerned that the EU would block all of their agricultural exports if they do so, he said.

Some African countries have refused to accept donated biotech food aid for their starving people because of unjustified fears, spread by the EU, about the food's safety.

"In places where food is scarce or climates can be harsh," Zoellick said, "increased agricultural productivity through biotechnology can spell the difference between life and death, between health and disease, for millions of the world's poorest people."

Biotechnology not only boosts crop yields, he said, but also reduces pesticide use and soil erosion.

After five years of waiting patiently, he said, the United States was taking its case to the WTO now because no end to the impasse was in sight. He said the moratorium violates a WTO agreement that requires scientific justification for food safety regulation and requires implementation of such regulation without "undue delay."

"The United States is not seeking to force food on consumers in Europe or elsewhere," Zoellick said. Consumer have the right to choose, he said, "but they cannot exercise this right in a system that blocks their access to food that is safe and healthy."

He rejected any suggestion that he acted just now to get even for a EU move toward retaliation against the United States in another WTO case, the one that the United States lost regarding U.S. Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) export subsidies.

"I'm absolutely denying that," Zoellick said.

Zoellick's action followed months of complaints from Congress, including from top Republican leaders such as Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.

"It's sad that leaders of southern African countries with starving populations have rejected U.S. food aid of biotech products due to fears of losing export markets in Europe," Senator Grassley said in a statement issued after Zoellick's announcement.

"As long as the European Union's moratorium stands, other countries might put their own populations at risk in an effort to comply with the European Union's misguided policies," he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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