6-Regulation: US senators ask China to delay GE-food rules

[GENET <genetnl@xs4all.be>]

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TITLE:  US senators ask China to delay biotech food rules
SOURCE: Reuters
DATE:   February 21, 2002

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US senators ask China to delay biotech food rules

WASHINGTON - China should allow a 12-15 month transition period before 
fully enforcing new biotech regulations that could otherwise disrupt 
agricultural trade, two senior U.S. senators said this week. On March 20, 
China's is scheduled to begin enforcing the regulations that will require 
new safety certifications for any foreign foods grown from genetically-
modified seeds. U.S. shipments of corn and soybeans to China are already 
thought to have slowed because of uncertainties over meeting China's new 
rules.

"We are concerned that all trade in biotechnology products will be cut off 
after the March 20 implementation date," Sens. Max Baucus, a Montana 
Democrat, and Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a letter to 
Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi. "We firmly believe it is appropriate to 
have an extended (12-15 month) implementation period for the new 
regulations, during which trade could resume and continue," Baucus and 
Grassley wrote. Baucus chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees 
trade issues, while Grassley is the panel's senior Republican.

U.S. government and industry officials have criticized China's new biotech 
rules, saying they are too vague. They also noted that it could be many 
months before China will be ready to issue certificates qualifying foreign 
biotech products. U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to raise the 
trade concern when he meets with Chinese leaders later this week.

China is the world's largest importer of soybeans, buying about $1 billion 
worth from the United States alone. About 70 percent of U.S. soybeans are 
bioengineered. Baucus and Grassley argued that a year or more delay in the 
regulations would give Chinese officials time to do safety assessments on 
biotech crops currently planted in the United States. A delay also would be 
consistent with the approach other World Trade Organization members have 
taken in implementing biotech regulations. USDA and U.S. Trade 
Representative officials in Beijing recently were rebuffed when they asked 
for a delay in implementing the regulations. But U.S. agriculture interests 
are hoping China yields to pressure from Bush.



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