THE divide between Europe and the US widened last week when the Bush administration filed an action at the World Trade Organization to force the European Union to lift its ban on growing and importing genetically modified crops. The 鈥渕oratorium鈥�, argues the US, violates WTO rules and is not based on sound science.
As with so many political disputes, the truth is not so clear-cut. The EU, it is true, did not approve any new GM crops between 1998 and December 2002. But this was because it was updating its approval process. Under the new system, companies selling any GM organism have to offer scientific evidence of its impact on human, animal and plant health, and the environment. Two GM seed oils were approved under the procedure late last year.
A second raft of measures, due to be agreed this summer, will require foods made with GM organisms to be labelled. The origins of these organisms will also have to be traceable. So by the year鈥檚 end, Europe should have a modern, science-based system for approving GM crops.
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But this is unlikely to end the dispute. Several EU countries have imposed unilateral bans on GM crops and it is unclear when or whether these will be lifted. These bans are unscientific, but they are not intended solely to lock US produce out of Europe. In many cases they are the result of democratic governments responding to voters who do not want to eat GM foods. Events such as the BSE disaster have left many Europeans with a distrust of official policies on food safety and a desire to know where their food comes from.
This is one of the prime reasons for the EU鈥檚 labelling and traceability rules 鈥� likely to be the next transatlantic battleground. So long as the US declines to segregate conventional and GM varieties, their origin cannot be traced and they will not be allowed into Europe (see 鈥淭rade war looms over modified food鈥�).
The real barrier the US faces is not one of science, sound or unsound. It is that European and American consumers want to make different choices for legitimate cultural and political reasons. How the WTO will sort that one out is anybody鈥檚 guess.