WTO Web site

Themes of the Dispute
Biotech Products Are Safe and Healthy

"There is no particular risk connected with the technique of creating GMOs ... [biotech crops] have been rejected in Europe, although there has never been a health problem ... or damage to the environment."
— French Academies of Science and Medicine, December 2002

"For the EU, there is no reason to believe that GM food is inherently unsafe to human health." — European Union press statement on food crisis in Africa, August 23, 2002
 

• As noted by the French Academy of Sciences, more than 300 million North Americans have been eating biotech corn and soybeans for years. No adverse health consequence has ever been reported.
  
  
• The EU itself acknowledges that biotech foods on the market pose no threat to human health. In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, EU Ambassador to the United States acknowledged that biotech corn examined by its Scientific Committees "is as safe as conventional corn."
  
  
• The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research has stated that, "Research on the GM plants and derived products so far developed and marketed... has not shown any new risks to human health or the environment... Indeed, the use of more precise technology and the greater regulatory scrutiny probably make them even safer than conventional plants and foods." (DG Research Press Briefing, October 8, 2001)
  
  
• In November 2000, the European Commission acknowledged that "no peer-reviewed scientific article reporting adverse effects on human health as a result of eating GM foods has appeared..." (Working Document of the European Commission, November 2000)
  
  
• A joint report from the national science academies of the UK, the United States, Brazil, China, India, and Mexico stated, "GM technology should be used to increase the production of main food staples, improve the efficiency of production, reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and provide access to food for small-scale farmers."
  
  
• Every year, more than 500,000 children go blind for lack of sufficient Vitamin A. Iron deficiencies are responsible for anemia among millions of women and children worldwide. Biotech crops currently in field trials could help reduce these numbers.