GMOs still rankle in Europe

World leaders meeting at the G8 summit in St Petersburg last month had hoped for at least one outcome: a boost to the flagging world trade negotiations in the current round that have been struggling since their initiation in Doha in 2001. Agreement must be reached this month if progress is to be made in this round. Issues are many and various, but in Europe one battle between EU member states and the WTO looks set to run on: the issue of genetically modified crops. As summit participants enjoyed Russian hospitality, several smaller EU states are becoming determined to defy the WTO and the EU commission in Brussels and continue a challenge to the planting of GM crops within their countries without their complete control. The battle has come to a head this year because the WTO has been leaning increasingly on the EU to allow the import of GM seed and crops and ruled earlier this year that EU countries should accept GM organisms, in a case backed by the US, Canada and Argentina. The US, Canada and Argentina made their complaint to the WTO in May 2003. Europe's moratorium on approvals for importing and growing GM crops, introduced at the end of 1998, had angered the three countries, which grow around 90 per cent of all GM crops. They also complained about bans by six countries, on certain crops that had been approved before the moratorium. And Greece has also become increasingly vocal in its opposition to GM crops. The US and its allies said the moratorium, " undue " delays in approvals, and national bans could not be justified scientifically. This was, they said, delaying progress in the development of GM crops and their role in tackling world hunger. Europe responded by arguing that it had taken a The G8 leaders had hoped to bolster the current round of world trade talks but the WTO faces many problems, including the issue of GMOs in Europe. Nigel Williams reports. justifiable precautionary approach because the science of GM crops and foods was uncertain. The interim report of the WTO's dispute panel was finally sent to the parties on February 7. It was about 18 months behind schedule and ran to more than 1,000 pages, the longest in the WTO's history. The report is confidential and only the conclusions and recommendations of the interim report have been publicly available via …