EU should remove non-scientific blocks to GM trade, says US
The two sides aim to create the world’s largest free-trade pact, whose advocates say could boost their economies by $100bn (€74bn) a year each. However, after a year of talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, agriculture is emerging as one of the most difficult areas.
The EU has ruled out importing meat from animals injected with hormones and said it will not simply open the door to GM crops.
Mr Vilsack said both sides should have the common goal of opening markets and eliminating “non-scientific barriers”.
“Science is a common language,” he told a media briefing during a visit to Brussels. “We will be working towards making sure that whatever agreements are reached, are consistent with sound science.”
In the case of GM crops, the EU has cleared for import some 50 of about 450 commercial strains. The bloc takes in about 30m tonnes a year for its cattle, pigs and poultry, but EU retailers hardly stock any GM food because of widespread consumer resistance.
Mr Vilsack said it was not acceptable that it took four years or more for GM strains to gain access to European markets after winning clearance from the European Food Safety Authority. That compared with a US norm of about 18 months. The US is demanding the regulatory process be harmonised. The European Commission said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht had repeatedly set out red lines on a number of contentious issues for the European public and that the EU would not be changing its food safety laws under TTIP.
Ecological group Greenpeace says GM crops are part of large-scale intensive farming which degrades soils and pollutes water. It says they create herbicide-resistant superweeds that require more pesticides and are not proven to be safe to eat, with much of the research funding coming from industry.
Mr Vilsack said the US government was concerned about suggestions that GM products posed a safety risk, which he said was not borne out by science.
Labelling, suggested by some in Europe, would not be a solution, he said. US labels, he said, typically concerned nutritional information or carried a specific warning, for example to alert those with a peanut allergy.
Mr Vilsack said the EUshould also rethink its current bans on chlorine-washed chicken and beef from cattle raised with growth hormones.
He added that a deal struck with the EU to allow in a quota of hormone-free US beef to settle a dispute at the World Trade Organisation was not a permanent solution.
The European Commission said what could be offered to the US was the possibility of exporting a greater quota of hormone-free beef, as has already been agreed between the EU and Canada.
— Reuters
