GMOs
Genetically modified organisms
The South Korean government pledged to ease quarantine rules on products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) under a free trade agreement with the United States struck on April 2. But while negotiations were underway on the deal, the government denied it was discussing the topic.
South Korea has reportedly exempted US foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from safety tests in the Korea-US free trade agreement struck on April 2, a move that Korean environmentalists criticised as the government "selling off" the health of the nation.
Consumers Association of Penang is extremely concerned and anxious that Malaysia’s Biosafety Bill and an amendment to the Food Regulations are now threatened by proposals made in the negotiations for a free trade agreement with the United States.
The Malaysian government has been urged not to bend to US pressure, under their bilateral FTA talks, to scrap its proposed laws that would bring in mandatory labeling of genetically-modified (GM) foods.
With maize trade scheduled to be fully liberalized under NAFTA in 2008, many farm groups are
calling for a renegotiation of the treaty’s agricultural provisions to prevent further
damage. This analysis examines the room for alternative policies in Mexico under
existing economic and environmental agreements, including NAFTA. It concludes that
the Mexican government retains access to many useful policy instruments that could
promote rural livelihoods while arresting the losses of important maize diversity. What is
lacking is the political will to make use of them.
Paper presented to the European Commission in Brussels by Liepollo Lebohang Pheko from IGTN-Africa on the gender impacts of liberalization of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA).
Mexico has moved to ban experimental fields of genetically modified (GM) maize. But the gateway into Mexico of transgenic maize, in the form of unlabeled grain imports, remains ajar. In 2008, as part of NAFTA, the quotas and other barriers for the entry of US-grown GM maize and beans into Mexico will be eliminated.
This new briefing from GRAIN and the African Centre for Biosafety looks at how governments, the agribusiness sector and transnational companies are increasingly using bilateral trade agreements to prise open markets for genetically modified crops.
An issue that has received less attention is the implications of the FTA for the entry of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) into Peru.
Bilateral and unilateral, initiatives are the new avatars of globalisation and free trade. And it is these avatars we must challenge to stop corporate rule, while WTO hangs between intensive care and the crematorium.
Agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico with respect to the documentation requirements of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety pertaining to living modified organisms intended for direct use as food or feed or for processing (LMO/FFPs), signed in October 2004.
South Korea and the US have agreed to establish a standing committee on sanitary standards for agricultural and food products, which will make it easier for the US to ask for expanded trade of genetically modified crops. However, negotiations on pharmaceuticals have hit a snag, with neither side willing to budge.
Letter from the US Biotechnology Industry Organisation to the US Trade Representative on intellectual property, GM labelling, biosafety, GM contamination and other issues BIO wants addressed under the US-Korea FTA talks.
Letter from the US Biotechnology Industry Organisation to the US Trade Representative on intellectual property, GM labelling, biosafety, GM contamination and other issues BIO wants addressed under the US-Malaysia FTA talks.
Bilateral free trade agreements are seen by the agricultural biotechnology industry as an
important conduit for spreading genetically modified organisms (GMOs) around the world.
Report of the US government’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (ITAC-15)
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety "is alive," although there were complaints about and criticism of modifications to the final agreement reached at the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOP3). The aim of the compromise that Mexico successfully pressed for is to not hinder the country’s free trade agreements with other countries.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today applauded the Bush Administration’s announcement to begin free trade negotiations with Malaysia. "Malaysia is an important market with a strong interest in developing its biotechnology industry," stated Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of BIO. "We look forward to working with US Trade Representative Rob Portman on this important initiative as Malaysia looks to enhance the development of its biotechnology sector.
Crowder has been president and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association since 2002. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President, International, of DEKALB Genetics Corporation — now part of Monsanto — a worldwide leader in agricultural genetics and seed biotechnology.
One of the books the Thai Prime Minister suggested his cabinet members read was “As the Future Catches You” by Juan Enriquez, a Mexican writer. The book’s contents relate to the fact that countries need to catch up with the development of biotechnology. Otherwise they will be alienated and left behind.
