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8/8/03
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1. US Escalates GMO Trade
War With Europe
2. Fox Denounces "Neo-Liberal" Trade Policy
3. New IATP Website Shines Spotlight On Agribusiness
4. Maryland Holds Poultry Waste Forum
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1. US
ESCALATES TRADE WAR WITH EUROPE
Earlier this year
key U.S. Trade officials began targeting the European Union's
temporary moratorium on GMO food, even though the moratorium was
begun in response to consumer concerns about GMO safety.
The conflict was handled. through a World Trade Organization (WTO)
complaint process and in response the European Union said it
would institute a new labeling regime that will take the place
of the moratorium. U.S. trade officials now say they have
"lost patience" with this solution and announced
yesterday that the US is requesting a WTO dispute panel to rule
on whether Europe's treatment of genetically modified food
imports violates international trading rules.
In a statement today
the EU said, "We think our system of GMO authorisation is
clear, transparent and non-discriminatory, and complies with WTO
rules." Robert Zoelick, US Trade Representative
justified the move saying that the moratorium caused dismay
among powerful farm lobbies such as the corn and soybean
producers, even though many farm and commodity groups like the
American Corn Growers Association have strong platforms opposing
GMO crops. Read
more.
2. FOX
DENOUNCES NEO-LIBERAL TRADE POLICIES
Last week Mexico's
president Vicente Fox shocked Bush Administration trade policy
personnel by announcing that Mexico would move away from
neo-liberal trade policies as advocated by the Bush
Administration.
"Starting
now," Fox said, "our absolute priority is the
strengthening of internal markets, the generation of employees,
self-employment and family income."
Fox went on to say
"We have left aside the idea of a neoliberal economy that
had shown little success in the past." The
announcement came days after Mexico reported its highest monthly
unemployment rate since Fox took office more than two years ago.
Mexico farmers had long since advocated trade policy reform
insisting neo-liberal policies were undermining family farm and
independent agriculture.
3. NEW IATP
WEBSITE SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON AGRIBUSINESS
The Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy launched a new website in June to
help reporters, researchers and advocacy organizations better
understand how agribusiness companies operate.
The
Agribusiness Center provides profiles and news links on over
eighty producers, traders, food processors, manufacturers and
retailers. These profiles link to news reports, Security and
Exchange Commission filings, company reports, advocacy groups
and legal documents pertaining to world's largest agribusiness
firms.
Articles can also be
accessed by searching on categories, such as
"environment" or "political
influence."
"A few
agribusiness companies have a big say in what type of food we
eat, the type of farms that cover rural America--and,
increasingly, the world," says IATP Trade Director, Sophia
Murphy - author of a recent paper on trade rules and market
power. "This site will be a useful one-stop shop for people
around the world to get the full story on these companies."
Visit the
Agribusiness center online.
4. MARYLAND
HOLDS POULTRY WASTE FORUM
Maryland Governor
Robert Ehrlich this week held a summit of 300 farmers, poultry
growers, environmentalists, agricultural consultants,
researchers, extension agents and state officials to discuss how
better to regulate nutrient runoff from the state's poultry
farms.
The state produces
500 million chickens each year and chicken waste is considered
to be one of the largest sources of nutrients polluting the
Chesapeake Bay. Many attendees suggested streamlining the
requirements of the state's 1998 Water Quality Improvement Act,
which was passed to help lower the Bay's phosphorous levels in
the wake of an outbreak of Pfiesteria piscicida bacteria.
Some present at the
summit suggested making nutrient management requirements
voluntary. But others questioned whether voluntary
arrangements would allow Maryland to fulfill its commitment to
halving nutrient runoff by 2010, and pointed to a pair of major
algal blooms this year and a 250-square mile "dead
zone" in the Bay as evidence that strong measures to
control phosphorous from all sources -- not just poultry
operations -- are necessary. Read
more.
Cultivating a vision where
rural and urban communities join together
to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and
a wild Earth.
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Rural Updates!
Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org
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