US to drop GM complaints against European Union

Washington has dropped plans to take the European Union to the World Trade Organisation over its refusal to accept genetically-modified crops, the US embassy in London said today.

The US has threatened a complaint to the WTO, claiming that “Luddite” Europeans had broken the organisation’s free trade rules with a 1998 decision not to allow in new GM seeds or crops. Only US soya, which was approved prior to 1998, is allowed to be sold in the EU.

The row threatened to be the latest in a series of fractious trans-Atlantic trade disputes.

But the US embassy’s minister counsellor for agricultural affairs Peter Kurz today said it had been decided not to proceed with the complaint to the WTO.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme, he said: “(The decision) was made at a high level of government. I suppose the idea was we don’t need further trade irritants.

“If there is some way of working this one out then so much the better. If not, then maybe the decision will have to be reconsidered.”

Mr Kurz said the US still believed Europe should accept its crops, and did not believe food products should be labelled so that consumers can see whether or not they contain GM material.

“This does not mean we’re still not very concerned about the moratorium on approval of new US GM crops or that we are not very concerned about the position on labelling and traceability,” he said.

“We believe that foods should not unnecessarily be labelled when there is no substantial difference between two foods according to the way they are produced.”

Mr Kurz rejected suggestions that the dropping of the case was part of US efforts to build bridges with countries whose support Washington may need in an upcoming war in Iraq.

“I wouldn’t dream of speculating about any connection between this issue and any broader urgent issue in the world today,” he said.

“I happen to think that this decision is probably made on the merits of the issue itself. We have top level negotiators on both sides, we talk to each other all the time and for all I know they have an informal agreement about how to work this out and they would like to leave it at that.”

Genetically modified crops are big business in the US, where they have not sparked the same controversy that has been seen in Europe.

About 70% of soybeans and more than 25% of corn in the US are now grown from genetically modified seeds. Farmers in the US claim to have lost billions of dollars in sales because of the European ban.

There have also been allegations from exporters that European aid to poorer countries has been linked to their remaining GM-free, leading to the rejection of US donations of GM food by several famine-stricken African states.