Sacramento, 24/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the summit with the EU, President Bush launched a new attack on the ban on imports of genetically modified organisms into the EU (on summit also see pp 4, 5 and 6 in yesterday's EUROPE). During the Biotechnology Industry Organisation conference in Sacramento, the US President reaffirmed that the European ban was, "based on unfounded and unscientific fears". He again argued that European policy hurt African countries, which would be discouraged from using GMOs in their crops because of this embargo. George W. Bush exclaimed that, "For the sake of a continent threatened by famine, I urge European nations to end their opposition to biotechnology".
The day was marked by protests in Sacramento against US policy encouraging use of GMOs (see EUROPE yesterday, p11 on the subject of MEPs, NGOs and President Prodi's appeals).
Asked on Tuesday about Mr Bush's approach, Gerassimos Thomas, spokesman for the European Commission said that, "it is not true to say that we are against biotechnology or against developing countries". he stressed that, on the contrary, the EU was very active promoting biotechnology and its aid to Africa was seven times as much as that from the USA. He also stated that the European Union, as opposed to the USA, provided African countries with aid that took the form of purchases of local products.