Why did the European Union impose a five year moratorium on the importing of GM foods and GM crops?

Answer: 

The GATT trade treaty allows the cessation or interruption of free trade only on grounds of safety. The EU imposed its five-year moratorium on GM foods and GM crops on the grounds that safety issues had not been addressed. The concerns of national governments were overwhelmingly supported by public opinion in the EU which was, and continues to be, highly sceptical of GM food.

Europeans are far more cautious in their approach to GM crops and foods than their American counterparts mainly because they are less trusting of corporate assurances about the safety of GM food products and more circumspect about their governments’ abilities to regulate the safety of GM products. Europe has lived through salmonella in eggs, BSE in cattle, and Foot and Mouth disease in sheep and cattle. The public felt that governments failed to deal with these major food crises honestly or effectively with the result that public faith in their ability to handle food safety matters has been deeply eroded. Europeans feel that GM crops have not been tested for their effects on the environment or animal and human health, and therefore see governmental backing of  GM technology as a policy which puts corporate profits before public safety.

Why did the European Union lift the five year moratorium on GM foods and crops and what has happened since?

Answer:

The USA (with the backing of Canada and Argentina) responded to the EU’s moratorium on GM crops and foods by imposing a law suit through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), claiming that the ban violated international trade laws. Europe lifted its moratorium on May 20 2004 because of this threat but not before putting in place new regulations to govern the testing and labelling of GM products. It also passed regulations which required nations to adopt rules for ‘co-existence’ between GM crops and non-GM crops, and encouraged nations to adopt legal frameworks which would establish ‘liability’ for compensation claims raised due to contamination of the environment and food and feed supply by GM material. Since the lifting of the EU moratorium, five European countries (Austria, France, Greece, Germany and Luxembourg) established bans on the growing of GM crops. America, (backed by Canada and Argentina) responded by filing a further complaint at the WTO over these bans. The European Commission is - once again - being put in a position where it will have to defy the will of the European people to avoid a trade war with the USA.