EU Affirms Ban on Some Beef Imports

The European Union on Wednesday permanently outlawed the import of U.S. and Canadian beef from cattle receiving growth hormones, saying it now has scientific evidence to justify a ban in place since 1989.

The 15-nation bloc urged the U.S. and Canada to scrap $125 million of tariffs on European products that were imposed after the World Trade Organization ruled in 1998 that the EU had failed to prove that such beef posed a health risk.

The ban dried up what had been a $500-million market for U.S. beef exporters, who say they use the drugs to help animals gain weight and use feed more efficiently. The beef-import curbs reflect the EU’s better-safe-than-sorry food-safety policy, known as the precautionary principle. The EU is pursuing the same policy in biotechnology, banning the import of genetically engineered foods because of safety concerns and prompting complaints to the WTO by the U.S., Canada and Argentina.

In the beef dispute, the European Commission said Wednesday that it now had sufficient proof that meat from animals injected or implanted with the hormones was dangerous to consumers, allowing the EU to shut its markets without breaking international trade law.

The U.S. disputed the EU’s statement that the new study allowed it to ban beef.

“We don’t understand the EU’s claim,” the U.S. trade representative’s office said in an e-mail sent to reporters. “We have not seen any science-based risk assessment from the EU that would overturn the WTO’s ruling.”

The U.S. is retaliating with $116.8 million in tariffs on imports from Europe, including Roquefort cheese and leather goods. Canada is imposing tariffs of about $8.5 million.

U.S. farmers produce 95% of their beef using growth-promoting hormones.

The EU ban affects six hormones used as a “cocktail” by U.S. beef producers.

The EU has concluded that one of the hormones -- estradiol 17 -- is a carcinogen, said Beate Gminder, a commission health spokesman. The bloc is banning the other five hormones -- testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol acetate -- while it seeks more scientific information about them, Gminder said.