-Caveat Lector- US sabotages GM trade treaty http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,25560,00.html By Jeremy Lennard in Bogota Tuesday February 23, 1999 A treaty among 170 countries to ensure safe trade in genetically modified organisms has been sabotaged by the United States, which believes its business interests are threatened. The US has refused to allow commodities like soya bean and corn, which account for 90 per cent of the world trade in GMOs, to be included in the negotiations. If they were included they would need to be clearly labelled when being traded between countries, something the Americans are anxious to avoid because it could lead to their products being boycotted. The US action came only 24 hours before a deadline for the biosafety negotiations in Cartagena to be completed. The US refused to bow to pressure from the vast majority of the 170 countries present, who called for a cautious approach to the international trade. It is likely that a protocol will still be signed, but after working groups failed last week to produce a consensus on a paper for the final debates, the treaty is likely to favour free trade concerns over environmental prudence, and play into the hands of biotech companies such as the US giants Monsanto and Dow. 'The US is willing to threaten biodiversity in the name of short-term profits. It wants a biotrade, not a biosafety, protocol,' said Greenpeace's political adviser, Louise Gale. 'Over the past two years the US has flooded the world market with unregulated and unlabelled gentically-engineered [GE] grain. It is clear it wants to continue this practice and will sabotage any efforts to set international rules for GE crops.' Although the US has no formal delegation in Cartagena, it sent a powerful lobby group of biotech company representatives. They have worked with a handful of other countries to ride roughshod over the concerns of the European Union and the developing world, which fears it will become a unwitting testing ground for biotechnology. Last week the British delegation broke ranks with its EU colleagues when it helped to write a set of proposals strongly in favour of the US position, and which will form the watered-down basis of any treaty signed today The proposals essentially reduce any potential agreement to govern the trade in genetically engineered seed, and offer few or no restrictions on the trade in genetically engineered grain to be used in food, and other commodities containing GMOs. If adopted, the paper will also sideline liability concerns for another four years while freeing up trade. Unless the majority of the countries can force their agenda at the eleventh-hour, the right of countries to say no to the import of genetically modified organisms will not be subject to global agreement, except for seeds. Instead it will be reduced to a decision by individual states, which can be contested before the World Trade Organisation. At the same time, the rights of individual countries to insist that genetically engineered grain, for example, be segregated from conventional grain, and that commodities containing genetically modified organisms be labelled, has been fudged. The implications of a weak protocol for importer countries and the vast majority of the developing world were demonstrated at the weekend with the arrival of aUS grain-carrier at the nearby Caribbean port of Santa Marta. Its cargo would be unaffected by the current proposed wording of the protocol. The cargo ship Abydos docked on Saturday to unload 17,000 tons of maize, which even by the biotechnology industry's estimates could contain up to 3,500 tons of genetically engineered grain. Colombian law makes no provision for the presence of GE grain in the shipment, and the country becomes a passive recipient without the right of prior consultation. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
