I couldn't resist posting this. Nielson's deal is priceless. "Later this month, the Commission will host a conference to discuss the use of biotechnology in developing countries." This will be a very important discussion. Merla
EU's Nielson blasts US "lies" in GM food row EU: January 22, 2003 BRUSSELS - The European Union's overseas aid chief accused the United States this week of spreading lies about the EU's stance on genetically modified (GM) food. European Development Commissioner Paul Nielson said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick lied when, earlier this month, he said some EU governments had threatened to withdraw aid from poor countries that used biotechnology food products. "This very negative lie has been circulated and repeated recently by Robert Zoellick," Nielson said at a press briefing ahead of a visit to southern Africa later this month. Washington is frustrated with the EU's four-year moratorium on new biotech products, a policy U.S. farmers say costs them hundreds of millions of dollars in sales each year. Only a handful of GM crops are allowed to be imported or grown in the EU where there is widespread consumer concern about possible risks to health or the environment. Some African countries have been reluctant to accept GM food aid from the United States, fearing grain could be used as seed and affect future exports. EU officials have rejected U.S. demands that they allay the African countries' fears. On January 9, Zoellick called the European view "Luddite". He said he found it immoral that Africans were not supplied with food because people had invented fears about biotechnology. He also said he favoured bringing a World Trade Organisation case against the EU for blocking imports of U.S. GM crops. Nielson said Zoellick had gone too far. "This is a strange discussion. Very strange," Nielson told reporters. "We are approaching a point where I would be tempted to say I would be proposing a deal to the Americans which would create a more normal situation. "The deal would be this: if the Americans would stop lying about us, we would stop telling the truth about them. This is a proposal for normalising the discussion." It was time for a more civilised exchange of views, he said. Nielson was one of six EU commissioners who wrote to the Wall Street Journal last week, attacking a pro-Zoellick editorial and accusing U.S. officials of peddling rumours. A European Commission official said the EU executive had decided it was time to go on the offensive. "I'm not convinced the future lies in pursuing a slanging match but at some point we have to draw the line and put the record straight," the official said. Later this month, the Commission will host a conference to discuss the use of biotechnology in developing countries.
