The Toronto Star January 18, 2000, Tuesday, Edition 1
HEADLINE: MODIFIED FOOD TALKS REACH CRUCIAL STAGE
The next year will be crucial in the fight against genetically modified foods, Greenpeace says as it prepares for United Nations talks next week in Montreal on trade in such products. ''We need a deal in Montreal,'' Louise Gale, a Greenpeace campaigner, told The Toronto Star's editorial board yesterday. Negotiators for 134 countries have been meeting every few months for the past year trying to hammer out a Biosafety Protocol, ever since a Canadian-led group scuttled a deal at a meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, last February. At a briefing yesterday in Ottawa, senior Canadian officials made it clear they
remain concerned that the protocol could be used as a barrier to trade in genetically modified organisms. The European Union has already refused to accept imports of Canadian and U.S. beef from cows treated with hormones, and has placed a moratorium on the approval of genetically modified food. ''There is a concern that the protocol, if
it is not drafted clearly, could provide them some additional excuses for blocking shipments,'' said one senior Canadian official, who spoke on condition he not be identified. The Canadians are also concerned about a proposal that countries be required to conduct a risk
assessment before accepting commodities - such as canola or corn, for example - that have been genetically modified.
But the European Union said in a news release yesterday the protocol should be based on the so-called precautionary principle ''and balance environmental and trade concerns.'' The precautionary principle, if included in the deal, would allow countries to block imports of genetically modified foods as a precaution, even if there is no scientific proof to back up their concerns. The European Union also made it clear public opinion should matter. There has been a huge backlash against genetically modified food in Europe.
Canadian officials said they don't believe countries should be obliged to use the precautionary principle in assessing genetically modified organisms, as one portion of the draft protocol proposes. ''We question whether we need it per se in this agreement,'' said one official. Still, the officials said yesterday they are optimistic about the
chances for a deal in Montreal, if only because the participants have had more time to study the issue. ''So from that sense I think we do have probably some reasonable prospects of making significant progress, if not actually of getting it completed,'' a senior Canadian official told a briefing for reporters. But Gale warned that if negotiators can't reach an agreement in Montreal, environment ministers gathering in Nairobi, Kenya, in the spring to officially sign the protocol may not have anything to put their names to. ''In practical terms, it
needs to be done here,'' said Gale, who is based in London, and is in Canada for the Montreal talks. ''They need to bring their best efforts to Montreal.'' Previous attempts to work out a Biosafety Protocol have have collapsed as a bloc of countries calling itself the Miami Group, including Canada and the United States, have objected to Europe's
demands for a precautionary principle. A senior U.S. official said last week he expects the talks to be very difficult, and that no deal would be better than a bad one. ''We very much want to see an agreement coming out of the Biosafety Protocol negotiations, but we have concerns about the shape that agreement may take,'' said Tim Galvin,
administrator of the Foreign Agriculture Service. The Miami Group, which also includes Argentina, Uruguay, Australia and Chile, wants the Biosafety Protocol to contain a clause saying it does not take precedence over the World Trade Organization. U.S. farmers to cut use of modified seed But with the collapse of world trade talks in Seattle last month, where negotiators had hoped to set up a working group
looking into biotechnology, the protocol would be the only deal setting out rules for trade in genetically modified foods, Gale said. Whatever happens in Montreal, the debate over genetically modified foods will continue on several fronts over the next year. There's a meeting of scientists and industry leaders in Guelph tomorrow to discuss the
issue, and the Council of Canadians will announce today a study of genetically modified foods by University of Guelph biologist Ann Clark. Greenpeace will be keeping an eye on what seeds farmers plant this spring. Their choices will determine how much genetically modified food is sold over the next year, said Steve Shallhorn, also a campaigner with Greenpeace. Farmers in the United States have told polls
they plan to cut back on the amount of genetically modified seeds they buy, saying they fear the market for such crops will shrink by next fall's harvest. No such polls have been done in Canada. Greenpeace will also keep up the pressure on food companies over the next year to cut genetically modified ingredients from their products