Warning on GMO rules delay

In an interview in Washington on 11 November 2002, David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, warned that US diplomatic patience may become severely strained if European Union Ministers fail to endorse legislation crucial to re-starting approvals of genetically modified foods. Mr Byrne said that if Washington responded by carrying out its threats to bring a complaint to the World Trade Organisation, ' the [legal] defences that would be available to the EU ... would be very narrow'.