The European Commission blasted Monday as "unacceptable" a US accusation that the European Union was starving developing countries because of its ban on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy made the rebuttal after US President George W. Bush said last week that the EU's policy on biotech foods was hindering efforts to fight famine in Africa.
Pascal Lamy, EU Trade Commissioner
"It is one thing not to have the same feeling on the level of precautions one must take over GMOs. We feel the need for more precautions than the Americans," he said.
But "to accuse for example the EU of starving the Third World because we don't stuff them with GMO surpluses or to use this kind of argument, that is clearly going much to far, that is absolutely unacceptable," he said.
Bush, who is travelling to Europe this week, scolded the EU on aid to poor nations last Wednesday, saying the EU ban on GMOs was an obstacle to battling widespread starvation.
"Our partners in Europe are impeding this effort. They have blocked all new biocrops because of unfounded, unscientific fears," he said in a graduation day speech to the US Coast Guard Academy.
"This has caused many African nations to avoid investing in biotechnologies, for fear that their products will be shut out of European markets. European governments should join -- not hinder -- the great cause of ending hunger in Africa," he said.
Lamy said: "There are arguments... which should not be used in this kind of debate, otherwise one crosses lines in the debate which in general are reproved by morality."
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