ALLARME ROSSO!!! Il WTO condanna l'Europa ad accettare il cibo OGM degli Stati Uniti!!!

["Paola Lucchesi" <paola.lucchesi at mail.inet.it>]

Diffusione massima, please, anche perche' il WTO queste decisioni le tiene
SEGRETE (leggete attentamente il testo, vi mando per l'urgenza la versione
inglese che ho appena avuto).

Il WTO aveva preso una decisione simile gia' anni fa a favore della carne
americana agli ormoni, ma li' per fortuna l'Europa sta tenendo duro e NON ha
riaperto le importazioni.

L'informazione e' piu' che mai vitale, perche' ormai non si tratta neanche
piu' di questionare se gli OGM facciano male o no: tutti i sondaggi di
opinione degli ultimi anni dimostrano che una maggioranza catastrofica del
pubblico si rifiuta di mangiare questa roba - il dubbio e' sufficiente.

Tanto che, se seguite un po' le battaglie politico-legislative a livello
europeo ed internazionale, vedrete che riguardano le etichette, ovvero
quanto ci si puo' permettere di MENTIRE ai consumatori = quanta informazione
si puo' nasconder loro, in etichetta, sulla reale composizione dei cibi che
acquistano. Qualcuno forse si ricordera' questo tipo di storia a proposito
della cioccolata, ovvero dei surrogati (= quanto olio di palma di puo'
ficcare al posto del burro di cacao nei prodotti, e fino a che punto e'
legale nascondere la cosa all'acquirente).

Bene, e noi guastiamo loro la festa: informiamoci e informiamo ----> FATE
GIRARE!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: "John" <ecologicals1 at shaw.ca>
To: <Permaculture-design at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 5:37 AM
Subject: [Permaculture-design] you can litigate consumers but you cannot
make them eat


February 8, 2006
World Trade Agency Rules for U.S. in Biotech Dispute
By ANDREW POLLACK
The United States won a closely watched trade dispute yesterday when
the World Trade Organization ruled that the European Union breached
international rules by restricting imports of genetically modified
crops and food made from them.

The decision, which was not made public but was discussed by federal
trade officials, also represents a victory for the agricultural
biotechnology industry, which for years has been battling opposition
to its products from consumers and governments in Europe and some
other countries.

The ruling by a three-person panel at the Geneva-based trade body is
not expected to flood Europe with biotech foods. But American
government and industry officials said it would help discourage
other countries from adopting similar barriers and would set a
precedent that countries must have sound scientific reasons for
rejecting genetically modified crops. Some countries have feared
they would lose exports to Europe if they were to grow the crops.

"One of the reasons we brought the case was because of the chilling
effect the E.U.'s actions had on the adoption of biotechnology," a
United States trade official told reporters yesterday.

The official disclosed details of the case on the condition that he
not be identified because preliminary decisions by the W.T.O. are
initially confidential. He said he was commenting because parts of
the decision had already been leaked to news media.

Officials of the countries involved in the dispute were still trying
to digest the ruling, which American officials said was 800 pages,
the longest ruling in the organization's history.

The United States, joined by Canada and Argentina, filed a complaint
against the European Union in 2003, claiming that a moratorium on
approvals of genetically modified crops that Europe adopted in 1998
violated a food trade treaty that requires regulatory decisions to
be made without "undue delay" and to be based on science.

The three countries also complained that six European countries -
Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg - violated
trade rules by banning even biotech crops that had been approved by
the European Commission.

Europe had argued that it did not have a moratorium but that it just
took time to weigh the possible risks to health and environment
posed by genetic engineering. It said it needed to take
a "precautionary" approach to regulation as opposed to
Washington's "laissez-faire" stance.

The trade organization panel appears not to have challenged Europe's
regulatory process for biotech crops. Rather, it said Europe failed
to follow its own procedures, resulting in undue delay of decisions.

The panel ruled in favor of the United States regarding the bans by
the six countries. It also ruled in favor of the United States on 23
of 27 specific crops, according to L. Val Giddings, a biotechnology
industry consultant who said he had been briefed on the ruling.

Genetically modified crops, mainly corn, soybeans and cotton
containing bacterial genes that provide resistance to herbicides or
insects, are widely grown and consumed in the United States but
rarely in Europe.

American biotechnology, food and agriculture groups hailed the
ruling.

"This is a good, clear signal to the world that Europe was wrong,"
said Leon Corzine, chairman of the National Corn Growers
Association. He said about $300 million a year in corn exports to
Europe were lost as a result of the moratorium.

But consumer and environmental groups opposed to biotech crops
condemned the finding.

"The World Trade Organization, with its secretive decision-making
processes, is unfit to decide what we should eat or what farmers
should grow," Alexandra Wandel, trade coordinator for Friends of the
Earth Europe, said in a statement.

Given that European consumers are still wary of the crops and foods
made from them, sales there are not expected to expand rapidly. Some
experts said the decision could even harden resistance to the foods.

"To the extent the issue has died down a little in Europe, it risks
bringing it to the forefront again," said Charlotte Hebebrand,
president of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy
Council, a group based in Washington that supports open trade. Until
Friday, Ms. Hebebrand worked in the European Commission's Washington
office.

Europe is expected to argue that the decision is moot because it
resumed approving biotech crops in 2004. But the American trade
official said that some applications filed in the 1990's had still
not been approved. Moreover, the recent approvals have generally
been for importing crops, not for growing them.

The decision could still be changed before it is made public, though
such an action is unusual. After the decision is made public, the
parties can appeal.

Europe could ignore the ruling and instead accept retaliatory
tariffs on some of its exports to the United States. Europe has
still not opened its market to beef raised on growth hormones, even
though the United States won a case at the trade organization in the
late 1990's.