GM FOOD WARS

Guardian: Bush's evangelising about food chills European hearts
In case you thought that the Bush administration's rift with its European allies ended with the Iraqi military campaign, think again. The White House has now set its sights on something far more personal - the question of what kind of food Europeans should put on their table. President Bush has charged that the EU's ban on genetically modified food is discouraging developing countries from growing GM crops for export and resulting in increased hunger and poverty in the world's poorest nations. His remarks, made just days before the G8 meeting in Evian, have further chilled US-European relations.
Last month, the US government launched a formal legal challenge at the World Trade Organisation to force the EU to lift its "de facto moratorium" on the sale of GM seeds and food in Europe. The EU has countered that there is no moratorium in place and points out that in the past year it has approved two applications for imports of GM seeds. Regardless, the new thrust by President Bush is likely to force another confrontation between the two superpowers - one whose long-term impact could be even more serious than the breach over Iraq.