Bush Shows His Ignorance on GMOs and World Hunger

" From the Grassroots to the Nation"
President Bush Bashes EU Biotech Ban

NEW LONDON, Connecticut, May 21, 2003 (ENS) - In a commencement address
today in front of the 2003 graduating class of the U.S. Coast Guard,
President George W. Bush accused the European Union of contributing to
starvation in Africa by rejecting U.S.
genetically modified crops.

The President said European objections to genetically modified, or
biotech, crops are the product of "unfounded, unscientific fears."
Europe's reluctance to embrace biotech crops is impeding the effort
to solve the long term problem of world hunger, Bush said, in particular
in Africa.

Bush said that the European ban on approving new biotech crops has
"caused many African nations to avoid investing in biotechnologies, for
fear their products will be shut out of European markets."

"European governments should join - not hinder - the great cause of
ending hunger in Africa," Bush said.

Several African nations, including Zambia and Zimbabwe, have rejected
U.S. food aid because it contained GM corn. These countries fear the GM
corn could end up in crops or be fed to beef
cattle tagged for export to Europe, which could then reject the African
imports.

The President's remarks come only a week after his administration
launched a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO)
against the European Union's five year ban on approving
biotech foods.

U.S. officials say European policy is illegal, harming the U.S. economy,
stunting the growth of the biotech industry and contributing to
increased starvation in the developing world.

EU officials say the U.S. is mischaracterizing its position on biotech
foods and that the EU's regulatory system for approving these foods is
in line with the WTO's rules.

Critics of the administration's policy say it is disingenuous to link
the biotech debate with starvation in Africa and many point out that the
benefits of biotech foods are unproven. There is not a food supply
problem, some contend, rather there is a food distribution problem.

In his speech today Bush partially agreed with this notion, but insisted
that biotech crops could provide the answer.

"Our world produces more than enough food to feed its six billion
people," Bush said. "By widening the use of new high-yield bio-crops and
unleashing the power of markets, we can dramatically increase
agricultural productivity and feed more people across the continent."

The United States produces some two thirds of the world's biotech crops
and U.S. officials estimate the EU ban has cost its agricultural
industry hundreds of millions, including some $300 million a year in
corn sales alone.

Bush's speech today escalates a growing trade dispute between the two
massive trading partners just as the members of the Group of Eight (G8)
countries prepare to meet in June for their annual
economic summit. A group of executives from some of the world's largest
U.S., European, Japanese and Canada sent a joint letter this week to
Bush and the other G8 leaders urging them to get global
trade negotiations back on track.