CTA Cites GMOs' Implications for Trade, Developing Countries

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU) has released a press statement on the implications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for trade and the developing countries.

According to CTA, the difference of pace for import approvals between the EU and exporting countries causes trade problems - while the EU still takes close to 3.7 years on average for an import approval, approvals in Brazil currently take just over 2 years, and the U.S. is aiming for 1.5 years. However, the EU has no intention to speed up the system in the near future as declared by Eric Poudelet, Director for Safety of the Food chain, Directorate-General for Health and Consumers of the European Commission.

The advocates of GM crops argue that GM crops have several advantages, such as: higher yields, improved weed control, and lower levels of pesticide needed. It is assumed that crops such as the Golden Rice in Africa can fight beta carotene deficiencies. They claim that GM crops could be part of the answer for the challenge of covering a 70% increase in food production, required to meet the growth of world population to 9 billion by 2050.

There are more than 300 approved GM products worldwide which represent 10% of the total crops globally.

See CTA's news release at http://brussels.cta.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=7592:gmos-implications-for-trade-and-developing-countries.