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WTO
ACTION TO LIFT EU BLOCK ON GM CROPS
June
20, 2002
Reuters
David
Evans
BRUSSELS
- Allen Johnson, chief U.S. agricultural negotiator, was cited
as telling journalists during a visit to Brussels that the United
States is thinking of taking the European Union to the World Trade
Organisation over its nearly four-year-old logjam in approving new
genetically modified crops, adding that, "There is increasing
concern about this, we have been more than patient. We are
considering all our options including dispute settlement (at the WTO)."
The
story explains that amid concern in many EU countries over
genetically modified (GM) food, the EU's approvals process for new
crop strains has been frozen since mid-1998. It has left many farmers
in the United States in limbo and unable to export to EU markets.
Allen
was further cited as saying that for maize growers alone, this
represented an annual loss of some $200 million. U.S. officials have
previously put the overall cost to U.S. companies at some $4 billion
a year.
In
a related story, Johnson was cited as warning Beijing that confusion
over China's regulation of biotech food imports must be eliminated by
this fall when U.S. soybean shipments normally accelerate.
The
story says that Johnson met with Chinese counterparts on the
sidelines of a World Trade Organization negotiating session on agriculture.
Noting
continued "problems" with China's biotech regulations,
which have caused disruptions to soybean trade since last year,
Johnson told reporters, "We need to make sure that as we move
toward the fall harvest that uncertainty is dealt with."
New
licensing import requirements for genetically modified foods went
into effect in China this year. A cumbersome and confusing licensing
process contributed to major trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The
United States also has complained that China has been slow to
implement new tariff-rate quotas that would further open China's
market to foreign wheat, corn, rice and cotton.
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