-Caveat Lector- Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com http://www.ioa.com/~davehart Wednesday, October 13, 1999 By MICHAEL PAULSON Mail Author SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON -- Detailing criticisms likely to form the basis for much of the protest in Seattle next month, Ralph Nader today is releasing a study of the World Trade Organization alleging that the WTO is undermining environmental and public health laws around the world. But the critique is being disputed by the Clinton administration and business officials, who say Nader is misportraying a variety of actions taken by the WTO. The book-length report, published by a consumer group Nader founded called Public Citizen, claims that, since its founding five years ago, the WTO has decided against every public health, safety and environmental regulation it has considered. The book claims that the WTO has usurped the right of nations to determine their own environmental, health and labor laws, and calls the WTO "a slow-motion coup d'etat over democratic governance worldwide." "In approving the far-reaching, powerful World Trade Organization and other international trade agreements . . . the U.S. Congress, like those of other nations, has ceded much of its capacity to independently advance health and safety standards that protect citizens . . .," Nader wrote in a preface to the book. "Under this new system, many decisions affecting people's daily lives are being shifted away from our local and national governments and instead are being made by a group of unelected trade bureaucrats sitting behind closed doors in Geneva, Switzerland." The criticism was immediately rejected by the Clinton administration and business groups that have argued that the U.S. economy and work force have benefited from the nation's membership in the WTO, and that the rules-based trading that the WTO represents opens new markets for U.S. exports. President Clinton plans to make a speech tonight outlining his objectives for the WTO meeting. "Nothing has been ceded," said Dianne Sullivan, director of trade policy for the National Association of Manufacturers and a key adviser to a pro-WTO business coalition, U.S. Alliance for Trade Expansion. "There isn't any WTO case that has said anything to the contrary. It's just that we have to apply all laws equally to domestic companies and foreign companies." A senior U.S. trade official, who asked not to be identified, said that the United States has not compromised any of its environmental or other values even when it has had to change regulations to comply with WTO rulings. "The (WTO) appellate body has gone out of its way to recognize and acknowledge the legitimacy of environmental objectives," the official said. "We can disagree with the appellate body on whether our measures were being implemented in a discriminatory way, but we're quite able to comply and correct perceived discrimination in a way that meets our environmental objectives." Nader brings to the WTO debate some credibility, as well as controversy, as the country's best-known consumer advocate. Nader became famous for challenging automobile industry safety practices in the mid-1960s. When he criticized Microsoft's practices in 1997, the company went out of its way to praise him even as it disagreed with his complaints. Nader argues that the WTO, because of its emphasis on fostering barrier-free trade, inevitably views national labor, environmental and public health laws as trade barriers. And he argues that the organization is unusually secretive. His complaints are not new, but the Public Citizen book represents the most comprehensive effort to date by WTO critics to spell out the reasons for their concerns. Critics have been promising widespread protest in Seattle when the world's trade ministers gather for a WTO meeting starting Nov. 30. The book argues that the United States already has weakened laws protecting endangered sea turtles and dolphins and has weakened domestic clean air regulations to comply with edicts of the WTO. The U.S. trade official said those cases are being misconstrued by the WTO critics. Specifically, Citizen Action claims that, "the U.S. relaxed standards designed to limit gasoline contaminants after Venezuela won a WTO challenge." According to the trade official, the United States did have to revise regulations that were being applied differently to foreign oil companies than to domestic companies, but clean air standards were not relaxed. For more information: Public Citizen: www.citizen.org U.S. Trade Representative: www.ustr.gov U.S. Alliance for Trade Expansion: www.us-trade.org _____ P-I reporter Michael Paulson can be reached at 202-943-9229 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. *** 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. 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