RIOT police and protesters weren鈥檛 the only adversaries fighting it out at
the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last week. Inside the hall
itself there was stony resistance to US-led proposals for the WTO to regulate
trade in agricultural biotechnology. Other delegations, led by those from
Europe, were adamant that they wanted the UN鈥檚 Biosafety Protocol to regulate
the introduction of genetically modified food, plants and animals.
This protocol, drafted after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,
advocates universal labelling of GM produce. It also says countries should be
able to ban any GM material they consider a threat to the environment. But the
鈥淢iami group鈥� of nations鈥攖he US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay and
Chile鈥攐bjects to the current draft, due for revision in Montreal next
month. The Miami group doesn鈥檛 want trade in GM products strangled by
environmental considerations, and so argues that the WTO should handle
matters.
In Seattle, the US and Canada proposed creating a 鈥渂iotechnology working
group鈥�, which would study the scope for regulating biotechnology through the
WTO. Initially, the European Union鈥檚 trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy, seemed to
accept the proposal. 鈥淐arefully controlled discussion on this issue in the WTO
is justified,鈥� he announced.
Advertisement
But the EU鈥檚 member governments soon slapped him down. 鈥淟amy went beyond his
remit and trade ministers were very angry,鈥� says a spokesman for the British
government. 鈥淭hey had to rein him back in.鈥�
In the end, the EU issued a strongly worded statement that effectively killed
the US proposal: 鈥淲e reject requests to deal with biotechnology exclusively on
trade grounds. We reject any attempt to undermine the EU鈥檚 right to regulate,
and we reject any attempt to derail, divert or delay the biosafety talks.鈥�
However, the EU did agree to the WTO forming a working party to conduct a
鈥渇act-finding鈥� mission into biotechnology.
The impasse in Seattle coincided with the announcement of plans to further
consolidate the agribiotech industry into a handful of multinational companies.
The Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca aims to combine its agrochemical and
biotech operations with those of Switzerland鈥檚 Novartis to create Syngenta.
Syngenta, based in Basle, will be the world鈥檚 largest agrochemicals company,
commanding 24 per cent of the global market. The nearest competitor, Aventis of
France, has 16 per cent, followed by Monsanto of the US with 13 per cent.
Syngenta will also be the world鈥檚 third largest supplier of seeds.
Already, rumours are rife that the new company could be snapped up by one of
its rivals. And if the purchaser were an American firm, it could further widen
the rift between the enthusiastically pro-GM North American camp and the more
cautious nations of Europe.