Volume 42 | Number 2 Spring 2007
The European Communities Biotech Dispute: How the WTO Fails to Consider Cultural Factors in the Genetically Modified Food Debate
VI. Conclusion
The EC Biotech case makes clear that the WTO has failed to resolve the debate over GM foods. Food regulation is complex—it is tied to cultural values that are not adequately captured by the market. The WTO’s commitment to free trade principles, as seen in the EC Biotech decision and the Hormone case, prevents it from sufficiently considering cultural values. As a result, the decisions do not resolve the conflict.
Further, by framing the GM debate in terms of safety—as defined by the restrictive definitions of risk assessment allowed in the SPS Agreement—the EC’s concern that it must have a right to exclude food that is not culturally acceptable or adequately proven safe is lost. Because the decision in EC Biotech does not account for these values and interests, the controversy over GM food regulation is unlikely to end with this decision. More likely, Europe will resist because of political pressure that, in part, reflects the European perception that their values are not respected. Labeling would alleviate the tension in a way that would solve the trade issues—without having to resolve the debate over safety. This is because labeling provides information that allows citizens of the EC and Member States to act consistently with their values, and thus perceive that their values are respected.
While labeling provides a way around the immediate trade conflict, the institutional inability of the WTO to consider non-market values would remain. This underlying problem indicates the need to reconsider how to frame trade disputes involving values outside of the market, and what institutions are the appropriate arbiters of such disputes. Ultimately, the debate must be addressed through international reforms that are able to take adequate account of the cultural factors, such as those seen in the GM food debate.
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Footnotes
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