April 3, 2013
EU-US trade treaty may relax GM crop regulations
The proposed US-EU free trade agreement consisted of many conditions of which one could be that restrictions on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) are relaxed across the continent.
Barack Obama called for a free trade agreement between the two largest economies in the world as part of his State of the Union Address earlier this year, with negotiations opened the next day between his office and the office of EU Commission president Jose Manual Barroso.
Any such treaty will cover GMOs, and that''s an area where the two bodies have radically difference policies -- while nearly two-thirds of all the GMOs grown each year are grown in the US, only two genetically-modified crops are grown within the EU due to restrictions the US government has called "unnecessary".
GMOs are heavily-regulated in the EU, much to America''s ire. To get a license to grow one requires first satisfying the stringent scientific standards of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), who then pass it on to the European Commission. If the Commission like it, it writes up a proposal for the Council of Agriculture Ministers, who votes to either approve or reject the license. Individual countries can then still restrict the crops being sold or grown in their territory if they want.
Forty eight GMOs have been approved by the EU this way, the vast majority for either industrial use or for processed animal feed -- and even after approval, the GMOs must be monitored closely. If they behave erratically, or begin cross-breeding with neighbouring crops without permission, their growth can be stopped and the license removed.
Only MON 810 (a corn plant with a gene that harms insects that try to eat it) and Amflora (a potato that produces a more industrially-useful form of starch) have been approved for human consumption, but Amflora failed due to lack of demand while MON 810 is still viewed suspiciously by many EU states.
Furthermore, anything imported from outside the EU must be clearly labelled if it contains higher than 0.9% GMOs, a regulation the US Trade Representative called a "commercially infeasible requirement". The EU''s restrictions on GM crops are arguably the strictest in the world, but any free trade agreement between the US and EU will necessarily require a more reciprocal approach to GMOs. If that happens, expect the EU to loosen its regulations rather than the US tightens up its own.
This strict regulation has been a source of contention on the continent, frustrating many member states who wish to grow GMOs. The British government is very keen on GM crops, with the minister for food and farming, Owen Paterson, calling opposition to the idea "complete nonsense" last month. The government is pushing within Europe for member states to regain the final right to decide whether to allow GMOs or not, along with a host of other political powers.