LONDON, England – There were no naked people throwing soybeans at him this time.
But once again, for U.S. secretary of agriculture Dan Glickman, a visit to Europe meant confronting the highly charged issue of genetically modified crops.
At the World Food Summit in Rome last year protesters opposed to genetic manipulation of crops took their clothes off and threw genetically engineered soybeans at Glickman.
Last week, at the International Grains Council’s markets conference, the audience was more restrained, but that didn’t deter Glickman from launching an impassioned defence of biotechnology, saying such scientific advances are crucial to feeding the world’s rapidly growing population.
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And he warned that the U.S. will not tolerate trade barriers designed to keep such crops out of the European market.
“Any plan for segregation is unacceptable and impossible to implement and impractical and trade-inhibiting and will require us to see what legal remedies we can take,” he told reporters after speaking to the council.
Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale, while not as vociferous on the issue as Glickman, said rules restricting trade for health or safety reasons must be based on sound science and impose minimum restrictions
“We expect our trading partners to live up to these obligations whether they are dealing with products developed through biotechnology or through more traditional means,” Goodale said.
Speaking to reporters later, he wouldn’t say how Canada would respond if the EU were unilaterally to impose segregation or packaging rules. “I wouldn’t want to speculate in advance until I saw what those might be,” he said.
There is strong pressure in Europe from well-organized and influential consumer and environmental groups to segregate genetically modified crops and identify them to consumers.
While vowing the U.S. will not tolerate segregation, since it is virtually impossible and would act as a trade barrier, Glickman was more conciliatory on the issue of labeling products that may contain material from genetically modified crops.
“We will look at labeling as long as it is science based and not discriminatory against biotechnology products,” he said.
In his speech, Glickman said people who oppose genetically modified foods have no problem with insulin or cancer drugs produced with genetic engineering.
Biotechnology holds out the greatest hope for boosting yields and increasing the nutritional value of crops without degrading the land, he said.
“Those who turn a blind eye to this technology must ask themselves, what is the alternative?” he said. “How do we feed more people without tearing up the rain forests to create more farmland?”
