Date: November 17, 2005 Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Description: In May 2003, the United States, Canada, and
Argentina initiated a formal challenge before the World Trade
Organization (WTO) of the European Union’s (EU’s) de facto
moratorium on approving new agricultural biotechnology products,
in place since 1998. Although the EU effectively lifted the
moratorium in May 2004 by approving a genetically engineered
(GE) corn variety, the three countries are pursuing the case, in
part because a number of EU member states continue to block
approved biotech products. Because of delays, the WTO is
expected to decide the case by December 2005. The moratorium
reportedly cost U.S. corn growers some $300 million in exports
to the EU annually. The EU moratorium, U.S. officials contend,
threatened other agricultural exports not only to the EU, but
also to other parts of the world where the EU approach to
regulating agricultural biotechnology is taking hold.
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