U.S. Seeks Help to Settle Its Beef With EU Ban

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said Thursday that the United States will ask the World Trade Organization to settle a long-running dispute with the European Union over its ban of U.S. beef containing synthetic growth hormone.

“The EU ban is harmful to American ranchers and has no scientific basis,” Kantor said. “We will seek a WTO ruling that it is inconsistent with the EU’s international trade obligations.”

The EU has banned the import of U.S. beef treated with hormones, claiming the treatments make the beef unsafe for human consumption. The issue has been under review since the ban was issued in 1989, with a scientific report ordered by both sides in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The report, released earlier this week, says hormone treatments pose no danger to humans.

Kantor issued the statement after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said earlier Thursday that he would recommend WTO action to U.S. trade officials after talking by phone with EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler.

“On the hormone ban, Commissioner Fischler was not able to indicate to us that steps would be taken to resolve the problem to our satisfaction in the near term,” Glickman said.

Under WTO rules, countries must justify their trade policies on hard science. Even so, Europe’s staunch defenders of the hormone ban, including Germany, aren’t likely to surrender.

The ban prevents the export of $100 million to $200 million worth of beef products to Europe, according to various private and government estimates. The exports are especially critical because of an oversupply of beef in the United States.