It has been the buzz for the last few weeks: Is EU's moratorium on genetically-modified or biotech-foods between June 1999 and August 2003 violating the WTO's international trade rules?

After much delay, WTO finally issued a 1,000-page ruling that confirmed that EU broke the international trade rules. As soon as the announcement went public, the story spread over most newspapers. I've extracted the pertinent information below:

From the Miami Herald:

The report sided with a legal complaint brought by the United States, Canada and Argentina over an EU moratorium on approval of new biotech foods, the officials said. The panel ruled that individual bans in six EU member states -- Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg -- violated international trade rules.

From BusinessWeek:

The report concluded that the EU had breached its commitments with respect to 21 products, including types of oilseed rape, maize and cotton. But it also rejected several other U.S. contentions that Brussels' effective moratorium had broken trade rules on several other products, including potatoes and soybeans.

An article from DesMoinesRegister included the perspective of (American) biotech-crop farmers as well as that of anti-biotech groups:

The decision would benefit farmers like Haack, who grow gene-altered crops. The delay in approvals has cost U.S. corn growers $300 million a year in lost sales to Europe, according to industry officials. The ruling would help biotech companies, such as Pioneer Hi-Bred and Monsanto.More than 90 percent of the soybeans grown in Iowa and 60 percent of the corn were of biotech varieties.

Anti-biotech groups criticized the Bush administration for challenging the European resistance to genetically engineered food.

"The WTO is unfit to decide what we eat or what farmers grow," said Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth-U.S. "It is an undemocratic and secretive institution that has no particular competence in environmental or health and safety matters."

The environmental group also said that the ruling undermines the right of governments to decide what is safe for thier citizens. On the other hand, shouldn't that decision lie on the consumers themselves?

A group of academics and scientists making up the AgBioWorld Foundation supports the WTO decision.

Over 3,400 scientists, including 25 Nobel Laureates such as Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. James Watson, Dr. Arthur Kornberg, Dr. Marshall Nirenberg, Dr. Peter Doherty, Dr. Paul Berg, Mr. Oscar Arias Sanchez and Dr. John Boyer have signed a declaration of support for agricultural biotechnology sponsored by the AgBioWorld Foundation. The Foundation hopes that WTO panel decision will be an important step towards replacing special interest politics with sound science and responsible regulatory and market practices wdhich will benefit consumers in Europe and throughout the globe.

How about you? What do you think of the WTO position on EU's ban on genetically modified foods?