ISDS Case Map
GMOs
Will US trade negotiators seek the elimination of GMO restrictions in Europe through the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership?
Food safety, GMO cultivation and France’s cherished “cultural exception” for audiovisual services are non-negotiable areas in view of upcoming EU-US free trade talks, the French stressed. The message was apparently well received by the European Commission in Brussels.
An EU-US free trade deal would obliterate EU safeguards for health and
the environment with regard to genetically modified (GM) crops and
foods, warns Earth Open Source.
Like putting an astronaut on Mars, a US-EU bilateral transatlantic trade deal has been a long-held dream of policy makers that seemed always out of reach. Yet Brussels and Washington are edging closer to the launch pad.
EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has voiced optimism that negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the EU and the United States could start at the beginning of next year.
"We are calling for a 'global class-action' against Monsanto," said Steven Payan, one of the Davis protest organizers. "We are joining the world in solidarity to demand a ban on all GMO foods and hold Monsanto accountable for its actions throughout history from Agent Orange to Deforestation to current and past deaths to preying on small farmers through a broken court system and also through International Free Trade Agreements."
Commentators are worried that the US may be pressuring countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) - an Asia-Pacific-wide free trade pact - to abolish the labelling of GM foods, which it regards as a trade barrier.
After 16 years of bitter debate, it has been agreed at the international level that governments are free to decide on whether and how to label foods derived from modern biotechnology, including foods containing genetically modified organisms.
One of WikiLeaks' greatest achievements has been to expose the exorbitant amount of influence that multinational corporations have over Washington's diplomacy.
Thai authorities are taking precautions to shield businesses and farmers from the fall in farm product prices after tariffs are cut under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) at the start of 2010.
