Bush blasts Europe over GM food ban

US president George Bush is heading for another conflict with European leaders after accusing the EU of aggravating hunger in Africa with a trade ban on genetically-modified food.

In a speech at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, used by Bush to pledge that America “will not relent in the war against global terror”, the president also strained transatlantic ties, already frayed by divisions over the Iraq war.

A day after the government moved the US terror threat status to its second-highest level, Bush emphasised another struggle, one against “the faceless enemies of human dignity: plague and starvation and hopeless poverty. And America is at war with these enemies as well”.

The European Union had succumbed to “unfounded, unscientific fears” that made it harder for impoverished African and other Third World farmers to sell their products in European markets, Bush said, stepping up a dispute over the EU’s decision to close its markets to GM food.

US farmers, eager to sell to foreign markets, have a big stake in the outcome of the dispute.

Bush’s comments come before a trip to France for the G8 summit of major industrialised democracies next week.

Africa’s long-term hunger could be greatly reduced “by applying the latest developments of science,” Bush said. ”By widening use of new high-yield biocrops and unleashing the power of markets, we can dramatically increase agricultural productivity and feed more people across the continent.

“Yet our partners in Europe are impeding this effort. They have blocked all new biocrops because of unfounded, unscientific fears.”

As a result, African nations had been reluctant to try growing genetically modified crops “for fear their products will be shut out of European markets”, Bush said.

“European governments should join – not hinder – the great cause of ending hunger in Africa,” he said.

Bush’s words – his first public ones on the subject – escalated the long-simmering fight between the United States and the EU over its freeze on genetically modified foods.

The Bush administration has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation, arguing that Europeans are ignoring scientific studies showing the foods do no harm.

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said that the European regulatory system for genetically modified foods complies with trade rules.

Bush also proposed a programme to beef up the US Peace Corps with hundreds of skilled volunteers to provide humanitarian aid in Iraq and elsewhere.

He also praised both the House of Representatives and the Senate for passing his proposed $15bn (€13bn), five-year initiative to fight Aids around the world, and said he looked forward to signing the Bill.

“When I travel to Europe next week, I will challenge our allies to make a similar commitment,” he said.