AFTER months of sabre-rattling, the US last week brought a transatlantic trade war closer by challenging the legality of the European Union’s unofficial “moratorium” on genetically modified crops. Yet its action could spectacularly backfire, galvanising opposition in Europe just as it was beginning to soften.
In 1998, the EU shelved further approvals of GM crops pending new regulations. Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and Luxembourg went much further, banning the import and cultivation of some approved GM crops – illegally according to the US. So only the handful of GM crops approved before 1998 can be sold or grown in…
