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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 252 Introduced in House (IH)]

108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 252

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives supporting the 
United States in its efforts within the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
  to end the European Union's protectionist and discriminatory trade 
 practices of the past five years regarding agriculture biotechnology.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2003

Mr. Blunt (for himself, Mr. Hastert, Mr. DeLay, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. 
   Goodlatte, Mr. Stenholm, and Mr. Cardoza) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives supporting the 
United States in its efforts within the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
  to end the European Union's protectionist and discriminatory trade 
 practices of the past five years regarding agriculture biotechnology.

Whereas agriculture biotechnology has been subject to the strictest testing, 
        based on sound science, by the United States Department of Agriculture, 
        the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency 
        prior to commercialization or human consumption;
Whereas Americans have been consuming genetically-modified corn and soybean 
        products, which are subject to a rigorous Federal review process, for 
        years with no documentation of any adverse health consequences;
Whereas, according to recent studies, biotechnology has made substantial 
        contributions to the protection of the environment by reducing the 
        application of pesticides, reducing soil erosion and creating an 
        environment more hospitable to wildlife;
Whereas agriculture biotechnology holds tremendous promise for helping solve 
        food security and human health crises in the developing world;
Whereas there is objective and experience-based agreement in the scientific 
        community, including the National Academies of Science, the American 
        Medical Association, the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, the French 
        Academy of Medicine, the French Academy of Sciences, the joint report of 
        the national science academies of the United Kingdom, the United States, 
        Brazil, China, India and Mexico, twenty Nobel Prize winners, leading 
        plant science and biology organizations in the United States and 
        thousands of individual scientists, that biotech foods are safe and 
        valuable;
Whereas European Union decisions on agriculture and food biotechnology are being 
        driven by policies that have no scientific justification, do not take 
        into account its capacity for solving problems facing mankind, and are 
        critical of the leading role of the United States in scientific 
        advancement;
Whereas since the late 1990s, the European Union has opposed the use of 
        agriculture biotechnology and pursued policies which result in slowing 
        the development and support of genetically-engineered products around 
        the world;
Whereas the five-year moratorium on the approval of new agriculture 
        biotechnology products entering the European market has no scientific 
        basis, effectively prohibits most United States corn exports to Europe, 
        violates European Union law, and clearly breaches World Trade 
        Organization (WTO) rules;
Whereas since its implementation in October 1998, the moratorium has blocked 
        more than $300,000,000 annually in United States corn exports to 
        countries in the European Union;
Whereas the European Union's unjustified moratorium on agriculture biotech 
        approvals has ramifications far beyond the United States and Europe, 
        forcing a slowdown in the adoption and acceptance of beneficial 
        biotechnology to the detriment of starving people around the world; and
Whereas in the fall of 2002 it was reported that famine-stricken African 
        countries rejected humanitarian food aid from the United States because 
        of ill-informed health and environmental concerns and fear that future 
        exports to the European Union would be jeopardized: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports and applauds 
the efforts of the Administration on behalf of the Nation's farmers and 
sound science by challenging the long-standing, unwarranted moratorium 
imposed in the European Union on agriculture and food biotech products 
and encourages the President to continue to press this issue at the G-8 
Summit in June 2003.
                                 <all>
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