Within the next month, a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel is scheduled to rule on a case that will directly impact how countries around the world - including Canada - regulate genetically engineered (GE) crops and food. This relates to a trade dispute between the United States (joined by Canada and Argentina) and the European Union.

In response to consumer pressure, European governments instituted a moratorium on GE food imports several years ago. Not convinced of the safety of genetically engineered foods and seeing no need for this technology, Europeans have demanded that their food supply not be compromised until proof is shown that these products are safe for public consumption. Unlike the Canadian government, EU officials have listened to their citizens and their concerns about GE foods and as a result have been harassed by the Canadian and American goverments ever since.

As reported by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the U.S. charges (along with Canada and Argentina) that by not approving a single new GE crop from 1996 through 2001, the EU regulatory system imposed a WTO illegal moratorium on new approvals without scientific evidence. The EU countered it was developing a regulatory system during this period and that there is signficant scientific uncertainty related to the health and environmental consequences of GE crops. The EU subsequently put in place a regulatory system for biotechnology products that has approved several new GE crops.

When this began, in May 2003, the Council of Canadians strongly condemned the Canadian government's decision to support the United States' challenge of the European Union's moratorium on the import of genetically engineered foods. In our view, this action by our federal government is a blatant disrespect of the democratic will of European citizens, who have repeatedly expressed their opposition to GE foods.

It's time to take action again before the WTO panel rules on this case! E-mail Trade Minister Jim Peterson and tell him that Canada must relinquish its involvement in this shameful partnership with the United States and that Canada must actively work to ensure that the WTO panel ruling respects EU policy.

Trade Minister Jim Peterson can be reached at Peterson.J@parl.gc.ca.

For more information on this case, including the Amicus Brief document to which the Council of Canadians is a signatory, go to www.iatp.org.