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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (2216)	6/25/1999 12:01:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2539

France, Others Block New EU Approvals of GMO Products (Update2) Bloomberg News June 25, 1999, 11:53 a.m. ET France, Others Block New EU Approvals of GMO Products (Update2) (Adds Glickman comment in 3rd paragraph.) Luxembourg, June 25 (Bloomberg) -- France joined forces with four other governments to block the sale of new genetically modified plants in the 15-nation European Union, heightening trade tensions with the U.S. The latest European setback to modified products added to transatlantic disputes over a range of food-safety issues. Up to 40 percent of some U.S. farmers' crops are genetically modified, and the EU is the second-largest buyer of U.S. food products after Japan. The French-led move to block approvals until stricter rules take effect represents ''an escalation of the fears of genetic engineering that don't appear to me to be based on sound science,'' U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. The decision at a meeting of EU environment ministers will frustrate efforts by Monsanto Co., Novartis AG and other biotechnology companies to sell new genetically modified seeds in Europe. A practical ban already exists, as the EU hasn't granted new licenses for over a year. EuropaBio, a trade group that represents Monsanto and competitors, said it ''deplores'' the French maneuver. ''For the European public to gain confidence in these innovative and beneficial products, the European regulatory process needs clear and consistent pathways to be followed for approval,'' it said in a statement. Food Scares Europe's resistance to corn, soy and other crops designed to resist pests reflects deep-seated concerns over the health risks of engineered foods, many of which are produced in the U.S. The two sides are also at odds over a decade-old EU ban on U.S. beef treated with hormones, which the EU says may cause cancer in humans. While they failed to rally majority support for an EU ban on new approvals, environment ministers from France, Italy, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg said they'll use their votes in the licensing process to ''ensure that new marketing approvals will be suspended.'' Together, the five control 30 of the 87 votes in the EU council of ministers -- more than the 25-vote minimum needed to block product licenses. Companies that make genetically altered products -- a worldwide market that's forecast to account for about a fourth of the $32 billion crop-protection industry by 2005 -- say there's no evidence such products can harm consumers' health or alter the makeup of surrounding crops. Monsanto, Novartis, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Germany's AgrEvo GmbH, and AstraZeneca Plc are among the companies with pending applications for EU approval of genetically modified products. Closed Europe ''European GMO approval has ground to a halt,'' said Jerry Harrington, a spokesman for Des Moines, Iowa-based Pioneer, the world's largest seed-corn company. ''We hope to eventually get approval, but this doesn't surprise us.'' U.S. officials have backed producers, accusing the EU of allowing consumer fear and politics to outweigh science, resulting in market barriers that violate free trade. Senator Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that EU resistance to modified foods has costed the U.S. ''hundreds of thousands of tons in exports and hundreds of millions of dollars in export earnings.'' ''There are no prospects for resumption of a meaningful approval process on the horizon,'' he said. Glickman and agricultural trade negotiator Peter Scher will meet with French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany in Paris on Monday to discuss food-safety issues, Glickman said. In a meeting that lasted through the night, the EU ministers agreed to a set of stiffer regulations that would eventually allow approvals to resume. Those rules, however, may not take effect until 2002. The new rules will scrap permanent approval of modified plants and seeds, replacing it with a 10-year consent subject to review. They'll also require stricter labeling and risk assessment, and will apply to the 18 products already approved as well as to new ones. The revised rules won't apply to ready-to-eat foods, and will affect both trial plantings and sale of the seeds to European farmers. Labeling Products containing more than a certain percentage of genetically altered ingredients will have to bear a label that says, ''This product contains genetically modified organisms.'' Those percentages will differ from product to product and will be set by the European Commission, the EU's executive agency. Under the new rules, EU policy-makers will also have to consider ethical questions -- separate from health and environmental concerns -- when deciding whether to approve a modified product. Consumer advocates and environmental groups urge caution because no one has studied the long-term effect on animals and humans of eating such plants. Opponents also say growing them may change the genetic makeup of surrounding crops. Greenpeace, an international environmental group, said it ''welcomes'' the de facto moratorium on approvals. ''There is no doubt that no new GMOs will enter the market in the EU within one- and-a-half to two years.''