EU bans beef with growth hormones
Calls on the US, Canada to scrap trade sanctions
GENEVA -- The European Union permanently outlawed the import of US and Canadian beef from cattle receiving growth hormones, saying it now has scientific evidence to justify a ban in place since 1989.
The 15-nation bloc urged the United States and Canada to scrap $125 million in tariffs on European products that were imposed after the World Trade Organization ruled in 1998 that the EU failed to prove that such beef poses a health risk.
"I now call on the US and Canada to lift their trade sanctions," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in a statement. The ban dried up what had been a $500 million market for US beef exporters, who say they use the drugs to help animals gain weight and use feed more efficiently.
The beef-import curbs reflect the EU's better-safe-than-sorry food-safety policy, known as the precautionary principle. The EU is pursuing the same policy in biotechnology, banning the import of genetically engineered foods because of safety concerns and prompting complaints to the WTO by the United States, Canada, and Argentina.
In the beef dispute, the European Commission said it has come up with sufficient proof that meat from animals injected or implanted with the hormones is dangerous to people who consume it, allowing the EU to shut its markets without breaking international trade law.
The United States disputed the EU's statement that new scientific evidence allowed it to ban beef.
"US beef is the safest beef in the world, and European consumers should have the right to enjoy it," the US Trade Representative's office said in an e-mail sent to reporters. The United States is retaliating with tariffs worth $116.8 million on imports from Europe ranging from Roquefort cheese to leather goods. Canada is imposing tariffs of C$11.3 million ($8.5 million). US farmers produce 95 percent of their beef using growth-promoting hormones. The US Food and Drug Administration says that hormone residues in food "have been demonstrated to be safe, as they are well below any level that would have a known effect in humans," according to the agency's website. Growth hormones given to cattle include estradiol, which humans naturally produce and is safe in beef when used as approved, the FDA said. Other hormones include synthetic compounds that have received "extensive toxicological testing in animals to determine safe levels" for human food.
The EU ban affects six hormones used as a "cocktail" by US beef producers, said Beate Gminder, a commission health spokeswoman.
The EU has concluded that one of the hormones -- estradiol 17 -- is a carcinogen, said Gminder. The bloc is banning the other five hormones -- testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol acetate -- while it seeks more scientific information about them, according to Gminder.
