ngin - Norfolk Genetic Information Network

13 January 2003

EU ATTACKS AS "SCANDALOUS" U.S.'S AFRICAN LINKAGE OF WTO CASE

"Zoellick specifically linked the threat to a refusal by Zambia last November to accept US aid of 15,000 tonnes of genetically modified maize despite the threat of famine in the African country.

"Almost at the same time the European Commission gave Zambia 15 million pounds to purchase about 33,000 tonnes of non-genetically modified (GM) food.

"The EU's executive arm lashed out at the linkage of the Zambian situation. "It is scandalous to use a serious situation in Africa to justify any complaint about GMOs," said Gonzalez [EU spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez."] (item 2)

1.EU vows to fight if US files WTO suit on GMO ban
2.EU plays for time over US threat on GMOs

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1.EU vows to fight if US files WTO suit on GMO ban

Friday, January 10, 2003  23:54
By The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Union on Friday vowed a vigorous defense against any possible U.S. suit at the World Trade Organization challenging its four-year moratorium on importing genetically modified crops.

"We would fight a WTO case and we believe we would win it," said EU spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez.

On Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick slammed the EU moratorium, calling it "immoral" and a "complete violation of WTO" rules.

Some U.S. officials oppose raising tensions with the 15-nation EU and Zoellick said Washington still has to decide whether to file a WTO case. A high-profile trade dispute could backfire by strengthening sentiment against GM crops in Europe.

The EU proposed new GM labeling and traceability rules last December.

The EU Parliament still must approve them this spring.

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EU plays for time over US threat on GMOs

http://www.eubusiness.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=100689&d=101&h=240&f=56&datefo
rmat=%25o%20%25B%20%25Y
by Elahe Merel [shortened]

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (AFP) - The European Union is playing for time over a US threat to protest to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Brussels' de facto moratorium on genetically modified foods.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said last week that he he wants to file a case at the WTO, calling the EU's ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) "immoral" and "Luddite."

"I find it immoral that people are not being able to be supplied food to live in Africa because people have invented dangers about biotechnology," Zoellick said.

But EU officials are stalling, apparently eyeing the lifting of the embargo by the end of this year anyway.

"We are going to wait to see if the Americans actually take action, and to see what arguments they use," said Arancha Gonzalez, spokeswoman for EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.

"If the argument used, as Mr. Zoellick suggested, is to use the pretext of the recent refusal by African countries to accept American food aid containing GMOs, Washington has no chance of winning, because it has nothing to do with this refusal," she added.

The US contends that the ban, applied since 1999 by seven EU states -- France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg and Austria -- harms its exports of maize, cotton and soy.

Taking the GMO issue to the WTO would open a new front in its trans-Atlantic trade war with Europe, which already includes disputes over steel and agricultural produce.

Zoellick specifically linked the threat to a refusal by Zambia last November to accept US aid of 15,000 tonnes of genetically modified maize despite the threat of famine in the African country.

Almost at the same time the European Commission gave Zambia 15 million pounds to purchase about 33,000 tonnes of non-genetically modified (GM) food.

The EU's executive arm lashed out at the linkage of the Zambian situation. "It is scandalous to use a serious situation in Africa to justify any complaint about GMOs," said Gonzalez.

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