I missed the big news of two days ago, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has issued a preliminary report (which I have not yet read) indicating that the European Union (EU) moratoriums on GM food crops constitute a breach of WTO trade rules.
You can read about it at ABC Online, click here also at AgBioWorld, click here, and Agribusiness Freedom, click here.
But perhaps the best commentary came from a friend in the US who emailed me:
“The WTO has rejected the anti-scientific claims that EU governments are using to defend their populist policies. This was a decision about scientific evidence with trade implications, not about trade where there is scientific uncertainty. Even the EU’s own scientists have argued that the scientific evidence strongly supports the safety of these crops.
Otherwise, the anti-GM types are essentially trying (and probably successfully) to paint this as a purely technical decision driven by and supporting WTO policies favoring globalization and oppressing local rule.
In every case where anti-GM claims have met the hard rules of evidence of a high level court rather than the rumour mongering of public opinion (or the odd local judge), they have lost, whether for Percy Schmeiser, the New Zealand Royal Commission, or now the WTO.
Greenpeace, FOE and others have had their days in court, and lost.
This is a record equaled in modern times perhaps only by those other popular forces of anti-scientific irrationality, the advocates of creationism/intelligent design.”
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.