The WTO could overturn decades of hard-won legislation gained by environmentalists on every continent. In November, over 5,000 trade officials from more than 130 nations will converge on Seattle for the WTO s Third Ministerial meeting. It would give special powers to multinational corporations and make it harder for municipal, state and national governments to establish human rights, labor and environmental standards as criteria for investors. Sea Turtles vs. World Trade Organization Decades of indiscriminate killing of turtles, ocean pollution and destruction of natural habitats have severely reduced the population of sea turtles. All seven species of sea turtles have been listed as threatened, endangered, or vulnerable.
Shrimp fishing kills more sea turtles than all other human actions combined.
It is estimated that every year 150,000 sea turtles worldwide get caught in shrimp nets. While this law applied only to US fishermen, it had a limited impact in protecting the migratory turtles. In 1996, to make sea turtle conservation effective worldwide and to level the playing field between domestic and foreign fishing fleets, the US imposed a ban on the import of shrimps harvested by countries that did not require the use of TEDs. This US law, a provision of the Endangered Species Act, is the only international measure to protect sea turtles from drowning in shrimp nets. Four Asian countries challenged the US law as a violation of world trade agreements.