US Joins GM Foods Treaty

M O N T R E A L, Jan. 29 — -- After negotiations late into the night, delegates reached an international agreement today on the trade of genetically modified food and other products.

Just before dawn, Colombia’s environment minister Juan Mayrannounced to a conference hall full of delegates that the yearlongstalemate had ended.

“The adoption of this protocol represents a victory for theenvironment,” Mayr said, fighting back tears. “But don’t forgetthat this only represents the beginning. We have still before us agreat challenge.”

The Biosafety Protocol to the U.N. Convention on Biodiversityprovides rules intended to protect the environment from damage bygenetically modified plants, animals and bacteria.

The protocol allows a country to ban imports of a geneticallymodified product if it feels there is not enough scientificevidence showing the product is safe. It also provides rules forthe transport and labeling, requiring that the words “may containliving modified organisms” appear on all shipments of geneticallyaltered commodities, such as corn and cotton.

Environmentalists Are Happy

“The text is good from our point of view—very good,” saidAdrian Bebb, an environmental activist with Friends of the Earth.

Environmentalists and a few scientific studies have raisedconcerns that genetically modified organisms could wipe out nativespecies, disrupt natural cycles and cause other ecological damage.

The European Union and developing nations argued that countriesshould be allowed to refuse imports of a genetically modifiedproduct if little is known about its environmental effect.

But the United States and its partners disagreed, saying many ofthe proposed rules would restrict trade.

U.S. negotiators said Saturday that they were satisfied with thefinal agreement.

“On balance we think this is an agreement that protects theenvironment without disrupting world food trade,” said head U.S.delegate David Sandalow.