11/13/2003 US, Canada Reject EU Call to End Hormone Sanctions - 11/7 Reuters

The EU told the World Trade Organization's (WTO) disputes settlement body (DSB) it had complied with a demand it provide more scientific information to back up its ban, and so the sanctions should be lifted.

But U.S. and Canadian envoys told the DSB they did not accept the ban had any scientific basis and that as a result the sanctions would remain.

"Canada sees no need to remove the existing measures," trade officials quoted Ottawa's envoy as telling the closed-door session.

The WTO ruled against the EU in the dispute in 1998. The United States imposed sanctions worth $116 million a year and Canada C$11 million a year in retaliation for lost beef trade. Both countries use hormones in breeding cattle.

The EU has banned definitively the use of growth-promoting hormones and provisionally barred five others about which, it says, not enough is known to estimate the possible risk to consumers.

The United States and Canada say there is no scientific evidence growth hormones are a threat to health.

In other decisions, the WTO agreed to set up a panel to investigate a EU complaint about quarantine requirements imposed by Australia on certain food imports.

The United States also won a probe into Mexican anti-dumping measures on beef and rice.






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