THE US-EU Hormone Issue

For the past 15 years, the United States and the European Union (EU) have been disputing the safety of growth promotants used in cattle. The disagreement over the use of hormones in cattle peaked in 1989 when the EU banned the import of beef from cattle treated with growth promotants, effectively cutting off U.S. exports of beef. The United States has always maintained that U.S. beef from cattle treated with certain approved growth hormones poses no public health risk, and therefore, the EU’s hormone ban is unjustified. Numerous scientific studies and evaluations, including those conducted by the EU and CODEX, the international food safety standard setting body, have supported the U.S. position.

	Recent Activities
	July 19, 1999 July 12, 1999 July 12, 1999 May 14, 1999 May 14, 1999 May 14, 1999 May 10, 1999	USTR Announces Final Product List in Beef Hormones Dispute WTO Finds U.S. Trade Damaged by EU Beef Import Ban WTO Fact Sheet Statement by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman Statement by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on the EU’s Failure To Comply with WTO Rulings on the Beef Hormone Ban Canadian Department of Agriculture statement USTR Press Release Talking Points for Timothy J. Galvin, FAS Administrator, before the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Press Conference on the EU Beef Ban
	Overview
	Chronology
	USDA Press Releases
	May 14, 1999	Statement by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman on the EU’s Failure To Comply with WTO Rulings on the Beef Hormone Ban
	May 3, 1999	Joint Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on the EU Hormone Report
	April 19, 1999	Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on the Beef Hormone Issue
	May 28, 1998	Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman Regarding the WTO's Decision on the EU Beef Hormone Ban
	March 13, 1998	Statement of Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman Regarding EU Compliance with the WTO Decision on the Hormone Ban
	Jan. 15, 1998	Appellate Body Finds EC Hormone Ban Inconsistent with WTO Obligations Under SPS Agreement
	Aug. 19, 1997	WTO Hormones Report Confirms U.S. Win
	May 20, 1996	Glickman and Barshefsky Announce WTO Panel to Review EU Hormone Ban
	May 10, 1996	Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman After Conclusion of Talks in Vienna, Austria With Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture for the European Union
	April 26, 1996	U.S. Requests WTO Review of EU Ban on U.S. Beef
	Jan. 26, 1996	Statement by Secretary Glickman on the U.S.' Request for Consultations Under the World Trade Organization About the European Union's Hormone Ban
	Jan. 11, 1996	Statement by Secretary Glickman on his Conference Call with Commissioner Fischler
	Dec. 1, 1995	Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on the Results of the EU Scientific Conference on Growth Promotants in Meat Production
	Congressional Testimony
	May 8, 1997	Statement of Paul Drazek Special Assistant to the Secretary for Trade Before the House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
	Other Links
	Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) -- Summary and Conclusions of the Fifty-second Meeting, Rome, 2-11 February 1999. Veterinary drug residues. (pdf file)