Paul Voosen, “Trade Chaos Looms as GM Crops Proliferate,” Greenwire, November 2, 2009

The third in a five-part series about genetically modified (GM) crops, this article focuses on the frustrations of importers and exporters over stringent European rules about even trace amounts of GM material in conventional crops. Apparently, European regulators have stopped more than 10 soybean or soy meal shipments from the United States this year because they contained GM corn dust, which had not been cleared for import in Europe. The cross-contamination apparently occurs when silos, trains and ships are not cleaned after GM crops are stored or transported in them. With pressure from European farmers who need the soy products to feed their cattle and pigs, the EU reportedly approved the GM corn on November 2, 2009.

Agricultural trade will apparently face new strains as GM traits used worldwide quadruple in the next five years. According to European Agriculture Minister Mariann Fischer Boel, “The result is that a growing number of GM products are widely used in other parts of the world but are not yet authorized in the European Union. Not because we’ve found evidence of risk but because the political decision is being knocked around like a ball in a slow-motion tennis match.” Liability can be significant if, for example, a shipment tests GM-negative at a U.S.
port and GM-positive when it reaches Germany. Shippers are uncertain about who should bear the loss. False positive test results and a lack of harmonization of standards evidently exacerbate the problems.