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September 21, 2001

Report explores biotech possibilities

According to a recent report by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, bullet-proof vests made from goat milk, plants that can clean up toxins from soil, and foods that can target specific vitamin and nutritional deficiencies could be a few of the next wave of products in the agricultural biotechnology pipeline.

The report, "Harvest on the Horizon: Future Uses of Agricultural Biotechnology," is the first independent effort to catalogue selected current research and development efforts in agricultural biotechnology.

"This report shows that biotechnology is a powerful technology with the potential to create remarkable new products," said Mike Rodemeyer, executive director of the Pew Initiative. "However, many of these products are likely to generate significant public debate over their relative risks and benefits. In addition, the broad scope of the research profiled in this report raises important questions, including whether the regulatory system will be ready for the next generation of biotechnology products."

Other activities of the Pew Initiative will focus on the controversies surrounding the technology, which are not addressed in this report.

Funded through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to the University of Richmond, the Initiative advocates neither for, nor against, agricultural biotechnology. Instead, the Initiative is committed to providing information and encouraging dialogue so consumers and policymakers can make informed decisions.

Zoellick: Delay Australia free trade talks

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said more time is needed before the United States should pursue free trade agreement talks with Australia. Although Zoellick personally favors talks, he specifically cited agriculture concerns for the delay.

"If you are going to move forward with a free trade agreement, you have to lay the groundwork politically," Zoellick said. "We have some very sensitive agriculture issues. The American Farm Bureau does not favor a free trade agreement with Australia."

In a letter to President Bush last week, AFBF and 33 other farm groups and agricultural interests stated that entering FTA negotiations with Australia while leaving issues, such as that nation's trade barriers to U.S. farm exports, unresolved, would "send the message that the United States is willing to tolerate unfair trade restrictions."

However, some business groups in both Australia and the United States had hoped the Bush administration would commit to talks when Australia Prime Minister John Howard recently visits the White House.

The U.S. Trade Representative said even without a free trade agreement, the administration will continue attempts to improve trade relations with Australia.

Vietnam catfish labeling urged

Some House lawmakers from the South said they would urge Congress to require labels for catfish from Vietnam.

Reps. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) are concerned that consumers are unaware that the Vietnamese catfish are produced in polluted conditions and mistake the Vietnamese catfish for the popular domestic product, much of which comes from the Southern region. Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas are the top-three catfish producing states in the United States.

U.S. lawmakers warn that the Vietnamese catfish are raised in waterways that remain polluted by Agent Orange and other highly toxic defoliants used in that country during the Vietnam War.

"That catfish is produced in disgusting conditions on the Mekong River, which is one of the most polluted watersheds in the world," Berry said. "That stuff (Agent Orange) doesn't break down. Catfish are bottom feeders and are more likely to consume dioxins that were sprayed as defoliants."

Berry, Ross and Rep. Charles Pickering (R-Miss.) said they will try to offer their proposal to label Vietnamese catfish during House discussions on the farm bill.

Canada: Reconsider lumber duty

Canadian International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew recently met with a number of top U.S. administration officials and lawmakers to persuade the United States to abandon a duty on Canadian softwood lumber.

The Commerce Department recently announced a preliminary finding that supports U.S. timber producers' complaints that Canada is providing countervailing subsidies to its softwood lumber industry. Commerce imposed a 19.31 percent duty on the Canadian lumber.

Pettigrew met with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) as part of what he described a "three prong" response to the Commerce Department's finding. The other two prongs are a challenge within the World Trade Organization and a request for expedited WTO consultations with the United States to reach a settlement.

During the meetings, Pettigrew urged the U.S. officials to stop "narrowly listening" to U.S. timber producers and instead consider the position of U.S. homebuilders and homebuyers who he said will be forced to spend more for Canadian lumber.

Notable Quotables

"Seems to me that things have come to a pretty pass in America when the word and judgment of a cowboy are not worth a dime and folks need confirmation from a bureaucrat."

— E.F. "Jinx" Pyle, a rancher from Magdalena, N.M., in a story published in the fall 2001 issue of Range Magazine on the effects of the Endangered Species Act and the introduction of wolves in his area. In order to be compensated for livestock loss, proof of a wolf kill must be confirmed by Wildlife Services.