Farmers' Org Presses for EU and US Biotech Agreement

Diplomatic discussions have started between the United States and the European Union to resolve the conflict caused by the ban on genetically modified (GM) crops in the European Union. The ban was declared illegal by the World Trade Organization, although the administrative and practical consequences of the declaration remain open. Copa-Cogeca, an organization of farmers across the continent, warns about the negative implications of the ban in EU agriculture.

Copa-Cogeca members criticize the slowness of EU approval procedure for transgenic crops. They used the recent stalemate, in the authorization of five biotech plant varieties, by the European Council as an example. Copa-Cogeca spokesman Simon Michel-Berger stated that “...it takes two to four years to approve a GM crop in Europe, fifteen months in the US. We cannot compete.” Because of the ban, a failure of up to 20 percent for European pig producers, in the line of increasing feed costs, maybe expected for 2008.

The complete news story is available at  http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/news/337.docu.html