Biotechnology and Biosafety: Battle Royale of the 21st Century.

• Author: Dawkins, Kristin

US Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, back in 1997, called disputes over biotechnology and the patenting of life "the Battle Royale of 21st century agriculture." In Seattle during the closing month of the 20th century, the United States and its cohort of fellow exporters of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) fired their first shots in this battle and found that they fizzled. Not only did the World Trade Organization fail to launch a new round of trade talks, but proposals that the WTO even consider biotechnology issues never got out of brackets. (In international negotiations, any proposals still in brackets have not been agreed.)

The US leads the world in producing GMOs and is desperate to protect its dominant position in the world grain market. Consumers in Europe, Japan and elsewhere object to GMOs in the food supply. Environmentalists fear the spread of genetically altered DNA through ecosystems could trigger potentially catastrophic problems. The market's reaction to these consumer and environmental concerns is causing many farmers in the US to reconsider their plans to sow GMO seed next year, to the dismay of the agri-chemical-pharmaceutical industry that supplies them. In fact, the American Corn Growers Association is predicting a 20--25% reduction in the acreage planted in genetically-engineered crops this spring while agribusiness analyst Dan Basse of Chicago's AgResource Co. anticipates a drop in GMO-soybean plantings by more than half.

In Seattle, the US had joined Canada and Japan in proposing a WTO "Working Party on Biotechnology" whose mandate was unclear, The US wanted it "to examine approval processes" for GMOs--taking dead-on aim at the European Union's array of national and regional restrictions on the import, planting and consumption of genetically engineered seeds and foods. Japan's proposal was to have a WTO Working Party look at the benefits of GMOs as well as health and environmental concerns, whether the WTO's existing agreements apply to GMOs, and how the WTO might appropriately deal with other international forums where GMOs are discussed (such as the Biosafety Protocol negotiations). Canada's proposal was for the WTO to assess the adequacy of existing rules and the capacity of WTO members to implement them. In response to these proposals, a large number of developing countries objected to any WTO working party on biotechnology whatsoever. And indeed, the developing countries never gave in: the final version of the draft Min isterial Declaration to surface prior to the sudden announcement on December 3 that the talks were suspended contained what was essentially the Canadian proposal for a Working Party on Biotechnology--but it was still in brackets.

The Europeans' role in negotiating the...