Food fights.

Abstract

On 13 May this year, the US government filed a lawsuit against the European Union (EU) via the World Trade Organization (WTO), claiming that the failure of the EU to lift its moratorium on the import and approval of genetically modified (GM) crops and foodstuffs was in breach of WTO rules. Having waited five years since 1998, when the bans on GM products started spreading through EU member states like wildfire, the patience of the world's largest producer of GM crops had finally snapped. US trade representative Robert B. Zoellick summed it up in a statement made before the suit was filed: “The EU's moratorium violates WTO rules. People around the world have been eating biotech food for years. Biotech food helps nourish the world's hungry population, offers tremendous opportunities for better health and nutrition, and protects the environment by reducing soil erosion and pesticide use.” > …GM crops and plant biotechnology risk being degraded a step further from a notorious scourge to a mere weapon in a trade war Despite the truth in much of that statement, the USA's strong‐arm tactics, motivated by economic considerations, may well backfire with European consumers. Naturally, there are also many scientific arguments as to why Europe should give green biotech a chance, but Europe would have done much better to address those itself, rather than wait for another country to sue it. Now GM crops and plant biotechnology risk being degraded a step further from a notorious scourge to a mere weapon in a trade war. But the blame for the escalation in the trade war between the USA and the EU should certainly not be placed on the USA alone. Clearly, the EU has to take a big share itself, considering the feckless way in which it has handled these valuable resources. The …