The controversy over whether to bring biotechnology under the authority of the World Trade Organization heated up yesterday when key European Union (EU) environment ministers resoundingly rejected the European Union commission’s own proposal to establish a WTO working group on biotech.

A Nov. 29th working paper leaked to Friends of the Earth shows that the E.U. caved into U.S. demands to establish the working group. Environment ministers from Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Italy put out a statement yesterday expressed opposition to the establishment of the working group. The ministers said that bringing the issue under the WTO could undermine the ongoing negotiations for a Biosafety Protocol, now being negotiated as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a multilateral environmental agreement (MEA).

"A WTO Biotechnology Working Group would run directly counter to this key objective by potentially subordinating the Biosafety Protocol negotiations…thereby setting a precedent for the WTO’s relationship with other MEAs," the statement said.

Critics say that putting biotechnology under the WTO could, among other things, limit governments’ ability to control the import of genetically modified food products and undermine national labeling schemes designed to promote the consumer’s right to know about GMOs.

Charles Arden-Clarke, head of Worldwide Fund for Nature’s International’s Trade and Investment Unit, told World Trade Observer that the European Union’s Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy had exceeded his mandate with the biotech proposal. U.K environment minister Michael Meacher was reportedly furious when he heard the news. According to Greenpeace, European Agriculture Commissioner Frank Fischler made a deal with the US before checking with EU member states. "There seems to be a serious democratic deficit in the EC and the EU in trade policymaking which risks destroying a vital multilateral environmental agreement ," Arden-Clarke told World Trade Observer.

E.U. support is critical to the creation of a working group, which is strongly supported by the U.S., Canada, and Japan.

The conflicts and potential conflicts between the WTO and multilateral environment agreements is increasing concern to environmentalists. Arden-Clarke said the WTO is already having a ‘chilling effect’ on the negotiation of new agreements and the strengthening of existing ones. At another press briefing yesterday, Klaus Topfer, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, said that multilateral environment agreements should be given similar enforcement mechanisms employed by the WTO, such as the dispute settlement mechanisms. "We are convinced that multilateral environmental agreements must be on the same footing as the WTO," Topfer said.

U.S. Undersecratary of State for Global Affairs Frank Loy defended the biotech working group proposal yesterday, saying it would not undermine the Biosafety Protocol discussions: ‘This is an attempt to consider the issue in a broader fashion."

But the Clinton administration’s stance on biotech issues may reflect the revolving door between the administration and the biotech industry, says Kristin Dawkins of the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy at yesterday’s press conference. Among other links, former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor is now on the board of Monsanto, and White House Chief of Staff John Podesta’s brother, Anthony Podesta is a lobbyist for PHARMA, the pharmauctical industry trade group.

"The U.S. position is very clearly linked to the transnational corporations that dominate this sector," said Dawkins.

Dan Zoll

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