Watered down standards | Some worry more GM products would be allowed and that labelling rules would be loosened
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) — Consumers risk losing out in a proposed free trade deal between Europe and the United States if big business succeeds in loosening standards, European consumer and environmental groups have warned.
U.S. and European Union negotiators held a second round of talks in Brussels last week on what would be the world’s biggest free trade deal, with a special focus on reducing regulatory barriers to trade.
Monique Goyens, director general of the European consumer organization BEUC, acknowledged that a trade agreement could lower prices and give consumers more choice.
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“But all the benefits could be undermined by the risks of watering down European consumer regulation,” she said.
BEUC, Friends of the Earth and the European Public Health Alliance told a joint news conference they were concerned that mutual recognition of regulations, designed to cut costs, would in fact result in the adoption of the lowest standards.
“It’s difficult to see how you can have mutual recognition unless it’s a race-to-the-bottom approach,” said Friends of the Earth Europe director Magda Stoczkiewicz.
EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has repeatedly said EU regulation on genetically modified food will not be changed, but the U.S. considers this a trade barrier that must be reduced.
European consumer groups fear a deal will lead to more GM crops used in products sold in Europe, where there is widespread public distrust of the technology, with looser labelling rules preventing consumers from making informed choices.
The European Union has already dropped its ban on certain U.S. meat imports such as beef washed in lactic acid and poultry washed in chlorine.
The U.S. is set to reopen its market, which has been closed to EU beef since 1998 because of BSE.
The European associations said their comments were not designed as an attack on U.S. standards, but European consumers were broadly protected by a requirement that corporations prove their toys, chemicals and other products do not cause harm.
The U.S. approach is more to allow consumers to obtain damages for actual harm, they said.
Among the European associations’ greatest concerns is a provision that would allow foreign companies to bring claims against a country if it breaches the treaty.
They said this would limit a country’s right to pass laws to protect its citizens or the environment.
