Brussels, 04/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The TTIP being negotiated is a threat to democracy, public health, consumers' rights and animal welfare standards, European civil society organisations said loud and clear in Brussels on Wednesday 4 February as the 8th round of talks gets under way (see EUROPE 11244 and 11243).
In a joint statement, representatives of 158 civil society organisations from 24 European countries called for the chapter on regulatory cooperation to be withdrawn from the negotiations. They say that plans to makes rules between the United States and the EU chemicals, food, public services, workplace health and safety, and financial sectors more compatible are a threat to democracy on both sides of the Atlantic and an attempt to place the interests of the big companies above protection for citizens, workers and the environment. The Commission proposals seek to weaken rules that are deemed to be harmful to trade and investment even before democratic institutions can say anything states Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), one of the protesting organisations.
Threat to food safety. According to the NGO Friends of the Earth (FoE), leaked documents show that the EU proposals would make it harder to restrict genetically modified foods and the use of hormones and other chemical agents in farmed animals with the creation of a new transatlantic body to filter all future food safety and animal welfare rules - aiming to facilitate trade “to the greatest extent possible”. First decisions on food safety would be shifted to this new trade committee and away from national and European decision-makers, while also reducing countries' rights to inspect food and agricultural imports at the port of entry - a key measure used to safeguard public health. “This trade agreement is a Trojan horse that will threaten our food safety and environment. A trade agreement is not the place to decide about our food safety”, said Adrian Bebb of Friends of the Earth Europe. (AN)