US UNABLE TO STOP BAD SEED FROM ENTERING EUROPE 

29 March 2000

BRUSSELS - According to a letter made public by Greenpeace today,
US seed certification authorities are  unwilling  and  unable  to
guarantee  that  seed exports to Europe are not contaminated with
GE seed.  

The US Association of Official Seed Certifying  Agencies  (AOSCA)
stated  in  a  letter to the Greek Ministry of Agriculture,  "...
there are no standards for certifying seed as non-GMO at present,
and  on  that  basis  the  United  States  cannot   provide   the
certification."  The  letter was sent in reply to a Greek request
for GE-free cottonseed after Greenpeace  exposed  large-scale  GE
contamination of US cottonseed in the country two weeks ago.  The
seed,  destined  for commercial planting in Greece,  contained GE
seed types not approved for planting in the EU.  

"It is astonishing that the US authorities are perfectly happy to
ignore  the  European  legislation,"  said  Isabelle  Meister  of
Greenpeace.  "If the US refuses to guarantee that its merchandise
complies  with the laws of an importing country,  we see no other
option to protect the European environment from unwanted  genetic
pollution than to ban such US seed imports." 

Furthermore,  GE  contamination is not only a problem for cotton.
Last year GE-contaminated maize seed was  imported  from  the  US
into  Germany  and Switzerland.  The Swiss authorities halted the
sale of the seed and ordered the destruction of the  contaminated
fields.  

"GE  contamination  could  also be a problem for potato,  tomato,
rapeseed  and  soy,"   said  Meister.   "This  case  once   again
highlights  why  we  need  a  ban  on  all  trade  on genetically
engineered organisms until the Biosafety  Protocol  is  ratified.
The  EU Environment Ministers meeting tomorrow in Luxembourg must
propose such a ban to the Nairobi meeting of the  Rio  Convention
in  May.   Also the European Commission must urgently tighten its
present seed regulation to match its GE  legislation  to  prevent
the genetic contamination through seed."