A copy of a joint ministerial declaration showed the EC gave its sanction to the US-proposed working group , a move, a Greenpeace spokeswoman said was the first step in a ploy to make it impossible for WTO member countries to stop imports of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops. "The US is trying any way it can to get GMOs on the table as a trade issue," Cindy Baxter said. "Now they (the EC) have caved in." `Friends of the Earth', another green concern, also condemned the declaration, saying it contained "wholly unacceptable concessions" in the environment.

"They show that the EU's alleged concern for these issues was little more than a PR stunt, to be abandoned as soon as detailed negotiations began," it said in a statement.

The declaration says the working group would merely have "a fact-finding mandate" on the relationship between biotech and health, consumer safety and environmental issues. But because WTO members can already establish trade barriers to protect their environment and biodiversity, any new discussion of the issue at the wto represents a danger that GMO grain or produce could be declared `commodity crops' whose trade cannot be restricted, Baxter said. Developing countries including Ethiopia and India are strongly opposed to a working group.

Meanwhile EU has said that beef compensation must reflect US sanctions. "Any EU compensation to US to settle a row over hormone-treated beef would have to be reduced to take account of damage US sanctions have inflicted on EU industry", EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler said on Wednesday.