WORLD TRADE G/SPS/GEN/55
2March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-0809)
Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures Original: French
DRAFT ECREGULATION -AFLATOXIN CONTROL
Submission bySenegal
Thefollowing communication wasreceived from Senegal on18February 1998.
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OBSERVATIONS BYSENEGAL ONTHE EUROPEAN DRAFT REGULATIONS
ONAFLATOXINS
Pursuant toArticle 2.9.2 oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade, theEuropean
Community notified theSecretariat oftheWorld Trade Organization ofitsdraftregulation setting
maximum levels forcertain contaminants infoodstuffs anditsdraftmethods ofsampling fortheofficial
control oflevels ofaflatoxins incertain foodstuffs.
Thepurpose ofthiscommunication istopresent Senegal 'scomments onthesedrafts asprovided
forinArticle 2.9.4 oftheAgreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade.
A. MAXIMUM LEVELS
Thenotification reveals thattheEU'sobjective ispublic health.
Itistruethatin1989, onthestrength ofthescientific information available atthetime, the
JointFAO/WHO Expert Committee onFood Additives (JECFA) recommended thataflatoxin intake
should bebrought down toanirreducible level, i.e.alevel atwhich infested goods would haveto
bedestroyed.
However, JECFA qualified thatrecommendation atitslatest Meeting heldinRome, from17to
19June1997.
AtthatMeeting, itarrived atanumber ofconclusions, interalia:
- Itisnotpossible, onthebasisofepidemiological studies, toconfirm thataflatoxin is
anindependent andautonomous riskfactor intheincidence oflivercancer;
- aflatoxin maybeconsidered tobeacarcinogen onlyinthepresence ofotherriskfactors
suchashepatitis BandC.G/SPS/GEN/55
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Moreover, paststudies hadoverestimated aflatoxin potency intheoccurrence oflivercancer,
while theresponsibility ofhepatitis Bhadbeenunderestimated by20to30percent:
- Incountries withalowincidence ofhepatitis B,liketheEU,amaximum limit of
20percent yields anestimated cancer risk of4.1cases peryear per
100million inhabitants.
Brought to10percent,themaximum limityields anestimated riskof3.9cases peryearper
100million inhabitants.
Inother words, areduction ofthelimitfrom20to10percentyields areduction intheincidence
ofcancer ofonlytwocases peryearper1billion inhabitants:
- Reduction oftheintake ofaflatoxins incountries withahighprevalence ofhepatitis
hasagreater impact inreducing cancer ratesthanreductions incountries withalow
prevalence ofhepatitis;
- finally, vaccination against hepatitis reduces thehepatocarcinogenity ofaflatoxins.
Inviewofthese considerations, itseems thatareduction ofthemaximum aflatoxin levelto
5percentwould notsavemany livesintheEU.Ontheother hand, itwould haveadamaging effect
onoureconomy inparticular.
B. SAMPLING AND CONTROL
Weshare theEU'sconviction thatananalysis result canonlyberelevant ifasample is
representative ofthelot.
However, weconsider thattheinferences contained, inparticular, inpoint 5.2.2 ofAnnex I
oftheEuropean Draft tobebiased.
Indeed, itisasifonelothadtworepresentative samples: one(thesubsample of10kilograms)
fortherejection ofthelotandtheother(thethreesubsamples whose totalweight isequal totheaggregate
sample) usedforacceptance forthelotorsublot.
Inourview, itwould befairer toanalyse thethree subsamples andtotakeadecision onthe
basisofthesimple arithmetic average ofthethreeresults obtained, asisdoneincertain countries (USA).
Moreover, asitfocuses onrejection, thismethod willleadtoproduct wastage andprobably
anincrease inconsumer prices duetoscarce supply.
Finally, thesample-taking method, involving anumber ofsamples 800times higher thanthe
standard adopted byFOSFA, issostrict thatitsapplication willrequire theupgrading ofalmost all
laboratories inthedeveloping countries. Andindeed, thenumber ofsamples issohighthatitwill
inevitably burden exporters, unfairly, withextra costs.
C. ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL CONSEQUENCES
While aswehaveseenabove, theadoption bytheEUofitsnewregulation willresult in
infinitesimal andmarginal gains interms ofpublic health, itscommercial andeconomic impact on
ourcountry willbeconsiderable. Itsconsequences willbereflected notonlyinthelevelofourexperts,
butalso,andabove all,intheimportance ofgroundnuts inoureconomy andtheoutlook forthatsector.G/SPS/GEN/55
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1. Exports
Exports ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption inSenegal increased steadily invalue between
1995and1997fromCFAF 1.8billion toclose toCFAF 2billion, finally attaining CFAF 2.3billion.
In1995, 74percentofexports wenttotheEU,Senegal 'straditional andpreferential partner.
2. Thecurrent status ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption intheSenegalese economy
TheSenegalese industry forgroundnuts forhuman consumption isessentially managed bythe
company NOVASEN SA,which employs 103persons onapermanent basis, 800onaseasonal basis
and1,500 onadailybasis. Ithastwohulling plants, oneinKaolack andoneinLouga, andprovides
support for50,000 farmers intheregions ofKaolack, Fatick, Louga andKolda cultivating anarea
of59,000 hectares. Itsupplies themwithafairly significant seasonal credit (CFAF 2.2billion in1995),
seed capital, andfertilizers which itbuys from alocal company, SENCHIM (approximately
CFAF 1.1billion, transport included).
Over thelastthree seasons, itprocessed anaverage of32,000 tonnes ofgroundnuts inshell
forhuman consumption.
3. Outlook forgroundnuts forhuman consumption
Despite alongtradition ingroundnuts, Senegal hasbeenrelatively reluctant todevelop the
cultivation ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption, eventhough theyseemed tooffer apromising
alternative togroundnut oilproduction. Itwasnotuntil1963thatthefirstprogramme forthecultivation
ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption waslaunched. Inspiteoftheefforts made, production has
remained dependent ontherainfall situation.
Senegal hasnowopted definitively forthedevelopment ofgroundnut production forhuman
consumption, inparticular through irrigation. On11December 1997, attheseminar toreactivate
thestudy onthedevelopment ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption financed bytheEU,theMinister
ofAgriculture declared: "Others havechosen cotton; here,wearebetting ongroundnuts." Similarly,
attheCouncil ofMinisters of13January 1998, thePresident oftheRepublic called forasustained
effort todevelop irrigated farming ofgroundnuts forhuman consumption inthevalley.
Theobjective istoincrease thecultivated areafrom 59,000 to100,000 hectares.
Tothatend,aseries ofmeasures weretaken affecting every branch oftheindustry, including
seedresearch, product quality etc.
Inparticular, theGovernment developed aCFAF 3billion triennial investment programme.
Inorder tostabilize producer prices andavert ageneral price slump, aCFAF 5.2billion
stabilization fundwascreated towhich theEUcontributed CFAF 2.4billion.
Thus, itwould beunfortunate iftheEU,ourtraditional andpreferential partner, weretoallow
anextremely strict regulation tobreak amomentum onwhich somany hopes arepinned.G/SPS/GEN/55
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CONCLUSION
While sharing Europe 'shealth concerns, Senegal considers theEUDraft Regulation tobe
extremely severe: itismore restrictive totrade thanthepublic health objective warrants.
Wewould liketheEUtoadopt asampling planandlevels corresponding tothose proposed
intheframework oftheWHO/FAO Committee. Attheveryleast, wewould asktheEUtoreconsider
itsmaximum aflatoxin limits inthelightofthelatest findings oftheJECFA. Thiswould beconsistent
withthespirit andletteroftheWTO Agreement onTechnical Barriers toTrade, inparticular Article 2,
paragraphs 2and4,andoftheprovisions oftheLomé Convention infavour oftheintegration ofthe
ACP countries ininternational trade.
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