Pesticides and Global Food Trade
Several issues have surfaced regarding global trade in foods. The European Commission advisory committee on food and animal health ruled in March that eight pesticides used in U.S. crop production are too dangerous for use in the European Union. These include azinphos, carbendazim, dinocap, fenarimol, flusilazole, methamidophos, procymidone, and vinclozolin. One wonders where they get their information since flusilazole and procymidone have never been registered in the U.S. and all dinocap registrations are cancelled. There are very few food uses still associated with the other materials. Bans against these may be enacted as soon as summer.
The Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, to which the U.S. is not a member, is beginning to become a serious consideration for crops grown with GM seeds. A paper prepared by the Washington- based International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council examines the cost of implementing two documentation requirements for shipments of living modified organisms (LMOs) intended for direct use or for use in processing. The choice is between a system in which exporters can say “may contain LMOs” or “does contain LMOs.” The group’s analyses show that the protocol acts exactly like a tariff, keeping trade down and forcing prices up for the importing country and reducing prices received by the exporting country.
Finally, Argentina is mulling a proposal from Monsanto to collect $2 per ton royalty on that country’s exported Roundup Ready soybeans. Most of the major players in the production chain concede that they are better off paying $2 per ton to Monsanto Argentina than paying $18 per ton after the beans arrive in Europe. (Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, 3/13/06).
