& Reuters News Agency
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Canada and the United States plan to strike back at the European Union after it refused to abide by a World Trade Organization order to allow imports of hormone-treated beef.
The May 13 deadline passed with the ban still in place.
The next move in this decade-old trade dispute involves retaliatory measures against the EU, said Dennis Laycraft of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
Canada plans to go to trade arbitration where the actual cost of lost beef sales to Europe is calculated. This takes about 60 days. A report is expected by July.
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From that point, retaliatory measures can be imposed.
For cattle producers this issue means more than an open beef market with Europe. By striking back, the U.S. and Canada want to prove World Trade Organization orders have some bite as well as bark.
“In the longer term we want people to use science and to have confidence in the international system,” said Laycraft.
Canada and the U.S. want trading partners to use and accept internationally accepted scientific analysis before a product is banned as unsafe.
“This is ensuring in the future that countries will abide by the scientific findings,” said Laycraft.
The Americans accused Europe of using scare tactics to keep the ban in place. A recently released study said one of the hormones used to stimulate lean meat growth in beef animals may lead to cancer in humans.
“These reports released by the EU to justify its ban are based on information that the World Trade Organization already has ruled invalid,” said George Swan, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
European trade commissioner Leon Brittan, speaking at a news conference, said the EU would not lift the ban until satisfied it was safe to do so. He said the EU had commissioned a new full-scale scientific report on hormones that he said was likely to be delivered at the end of the year.
European Commission spokesperson Nigel Gardner said the EU was sending a letter to the Geneva-based world trade watchdog setting out its position.
“We are informing the WTO that it is not possible to lift the ban by May 13,” he told Reuters.
Beef exporting countries like Australia and New Zealand are observers in this case because the hormone ban was leveled against any beef from animals receiving growth stimulants.
