"The prospects for an agreement are good if countries are willing to address each other's concerns and be flexible," assistant secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science David Sandalow said. Environmental officials from some 134 countries will gather in Montreal this week for talks on a proposed Bio-safety Protocol - which could establish rules for the international movement of genetically modified organisms, including crops.

The talks formally open Monday and end January 28. A similar effort last year in Cartagena, Colombia failed. Sandalow, a former White House environmental adviser, who will head the US delegation, said the United States was willing to consider alternative wording for a "savings clause" to clarify that the Bio-safety Protocol would not rewrite food safety rules of the World Trade Organisation.

The United States also supports establishing a "Bio-safety Clearing House" to post information about the latest government approvals of genetically modified crops, he said.

US opposes using pact to address crops
While the United States supports a Bio-safety Protocol, it opposes efforts by the European Union to use the pact to address food safety concerns about genetically modified crops. "This is not the right forum for a debate about food safety," Sandalow said, noting that the environmental aides crafting the protocol are not food safety experts.

As part of a group of negotiating countries known as the Miami Group, the United States wants the Bio-safety Protocol to focus primarily on preventing harmful effects to the environment. Other Miami Group members are Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina and Uruguay.

In the group's view, genetically modified corn, soybeans and other crops intended for food, feed and processing pose little environmental risk. But other "living modified organisms" such as planting seeds, trees and fish for release do warrant tighter controls, the negotiating group says. The United States particularly is concerned with a provision in the proposed protocol that would require advance notice of shipments of genetically modified crops (GMO).

Even if that requirement were restricted to just the first shipment to an importing country, it could disrupt world food trade, Sandalow said. "The core issue is tracing a particular GM crop from the field all the way to the dock where it is being offloaded," he said. "For some products, such as seeds, it can be accomplished feasibly. But for bulk commodities, it cannot."

US flexible on wording
One key issue has been the Miami's group insistence on a savings clause to make clear the Bio-safety Protocol does not override other international agreements. WTO rules prevent countries from blocking food imports unless there is a compelling scientific reason. Miami Group countries fear that without a savings clause, the Bio-safety Protocol could be used to circumvent WTO rules.

"We're not wed to the particular wording that we've proposed," Sandalow said. "But there needs to be some provision in the text that reflects the intention of the countries not to renegotiate WTO." The Miami group is not insisting on language that would subordinate the protocol to the WTO. "There has been some confusion on that topic and I want to make that clear," Sandalow said. "This is a relationship of equals" between the two pacts.

-- (Reuters)