A Conflict of Legitimate Concerns or Pandering to Vested Interests? Conflicting Attitudes Towards the Regulation of Trade in Genetically Modified Goods - The EU and the US

The success of multilateral negotiations in reducing explicit trade barriers has focused the attention of policy makers and other interest groups on the impact domestic policies and attitudes may have on trade flows. In the area of genetically modified goods the principal area of dispute between the U.S. and the EU involves fundamental differences in the perception of these goods and consumer attitudes towards them. The current dispute settlement mechanisms do not provide a way of dealing with this type of issue. Existing bodies were designed to deal with "producer vested" interests and so cannot deal with "legitimate" consumer concerns. The paper concludes that a new body should be established to deal with these within the ambit of the WTO.