BBC: US 'wrecking' GM talks
Tuesday, February 23, 1999 Published at 12:25 GMT
Soya beans for Downing Street: GMO protests are international
By Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby
With international talks in Colombia on a treaty to
control the trade in genetically-modified organisms due
to end within hours, the United States stands accused of
trying to wreck it.
The meeting, in the city of Cartagena, involves delegates
from nearly 170 countries which have signed the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity.
The USA has not ratified the convention, and so is in
Cartagena only as an observer.
But it has used that restricted status to orchestrate a
refusal to allow the meeting to include commodities like
soya beans and corn in the negotiations. The two crops
make up 90% of the world trade in GMOs.
Most trade uncontrolled
Allowing them to be included would mean labelling them
in international trade, and that could mean they were
boycotted.
Unless the majority of countries at the talks can force a
last-minute climbdown by the US and its allies, the
meeting will end by agreeing a partial treaty.
It will govern trade in GM seeds, while leaving all other
GM products virtually free of restrictions.
It will mean there is no global
agreement that a country has
the right to refuse to allow
the import of GMOs. And if
individual states do refuse,
they will be liable to
challenge at the World Trade
Organisation.
Greenpeace accuses the
Americans of threatening
biodiversity in the name of
profit.
The group's political adviser, Louise Gale, said: "The US
has attempted to terminate the Biosafety Protocol".
"It seems that the US, driven by the commercial
interests of companies such as Monsanto, is willing to
threaten the world's biodiversity and forego any
international safeguards on the trade in GMOs."
Britain accused
The US observers do have the support of five
delegations, most of them from major grain exporting
countries - Canada, Argentina, Australia, Chile and
Uruguay.
The British delegation is also accused of giving support
to the Americans after it helped to draw up a set of
proposals which favour their position.
Dr Doug Parr, of Greenpeace UK, said: "If the US gets
its way, millions more consumers would be denied a
choice about what they eat, and a majority of the world's
national governments would be powerless to enforce this
basic individual right".
He also criticised the UK Government's policy on GMOs.
"Whilst they make promises to the UK public about
labelling, no UK minister is present at international
negotiations to ensure that it can actually happen".
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