Companies face pressure from buyers as they take aim against world hunger
SAN FRANCISCO -- International discord over genetically modified crops is more pronounced than ever as thousands of biotech executives and government officials, including President Bush, gather at pro-biotechnology conferences on both U.S. coasts. In Geneva, U.S. negotiators failed last week to persuade Europeans to lift a ban on biotech products, escalating a trade war. Monsanto Co., meanwhile, is aggressively trying to exact payments from farmers illegally using its technology in Brazil.
And a Bush administration appointee was dispatched to Baghdad, tasked with, among other things, figuring out whether genetically modified crops have a place in Iraq.
The biotech industry, arguing that its products can alleviate hunger and boost agricultural production in the developing world, is pushing hard for a more prominent place at the world's dinner tables.
But many food manufacturers, farmers and consumers, especially in Europe, remain skeptical.
"Consumer sentiment outside the United States is galvanized against genetically modified food," said Debbie Foster of H.J. Heinz Co. "We don't use any genetically modified ingredients in our products sold in Europe."
Foster said the Pittsburgh-based food maker also attempts to avoid genetically modified ingredients in the United States, though it finds total aversion difficult now that some 70 percent of all U.S. soy is genetically engineered.
Fast-food chains have also been leery -- led by McDonald's Corp., they helped torpedo a genetically modified potato after telling French fry suppliers they wanted only conventional spuds.
"There are hurdles to be overcome," said Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group. "We are just going to have to play this one out."
It's against this backdrop that thousands of biotech executives and government officials gather at their respective conferences this coming week to promote U.S. biotechnology as safe and scientifically sound.
On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman is to open the three-day Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology. Some 150 government officials from 100 countries are expected at the Sacramento gathering to hear how biotech can save their farm economies and ease hunger.
Not a single representative from the European Union is expected, highlighting the widening gulf between the United States and Europe over biotechnology.
The Bush administration has asked the World Trade Organization to force Europeans to lift their ban on genetically modified food so U.S. biotech companies and farmers can sell their wares in Europe.
But talks between the two sides broke off Thursday in Geneva and U.S. officials now plan to ask the WTO to convene a panel for the case. Critics say the U.S. trade complaint, filed in May, will only unify and mobilize Europeans in opposition.
"It's going to backfire," said Jeremy Rifkin, a prominent anti-biotechnology author. "The United States made a tragic error in going to the WTO to push for a lift of the ban."
Europeans aren't alone. Thousands of anti-biotech protesters are expected in Sacramento to answer a call by anti-biotech groups, united through the Web site sacmobilization.org, for "mass nonviolent direct action to stop the corporate takeover of the food system."
The Bush administration argues that biotechnology could help developing nations improve agricultural production and better feed their populations -- a theme to be featured by many of the 80 speakers and 60 exhibitions at the USDA-sponsored conference in Sacramento.
That same message will be delivered by scientists from developing nations gathering in Washington, D.C., for the 10th annual Biotechnology Industry Organization conference, which also starts Monday. Bush is to address the group Monday afternoon.
"We haven't had a product approved that affects human health and hopefully we never will," said the trade group's Feldbaum.
Some 15,000 people from 50 countries are expected to attend this year, though the usual group of protesters will likely be absent: Most of them have decided to target Sacramento.
source: http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/062203/bus_062203080.shtml 26jun03
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