http://www.eurasiabio.org/media/news/moscow_mayor__going_to_exclude_transgenes_from__muscovites_ration/
Moscow mayor going to exclude transgenes from Muscovites’ ration
Source: AMI TASS
March 20, 2008
Jury Lushkov has proposed to completely ban the sale of GMO containing products in Moscow.
He pointed out that about 6 per cent of products in sale in Moscow contain GMO. Indicating that such products are prohibited in many countries and cities. .Moscow mayor insists this dangerous and still not fully investigated component to be expelled from the capital.
Over 12,8 thousand titles of products have been checked. The GMO level exceeding the 0.9 per cent mark was revealed in 750 articles, mostly diary products.
The bans and limits for transgene cultures in several EG countries are linked to the ecologists' doubts that their uncontrolled dissemination can endanger the ecology balance in Europa.
At the same time the representatives of Institute of Nutrition, Moscow State University, Gamaleja Institute of microbiology and epidemiology stress, that there exists no study proving the GMO danger for the human health.
[MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS ARE CORRECT IN CITING THAT THERE ARE NO PROVEN HUMAN HEALTH OR ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS POSED BY GMOS]
[See, e.g., LA Kogan Presentation at Moscow State University – BASIC DIRECTIONS OF MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY: BIOTECHNOLOGY - A SCIENTIFIC & PRACTICAL PRIORITY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (June 29, 2007), at:
http://www.itssd.org/Programs/BasicDirectionsofModernBiotechnology-KOGANPresentationMoscowConferenceJune29,2007.ppt
Showing posts with label technical barriers to trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technical barriers to trade. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
110th Congress' Obstruction of Colombia-US Free Trade Agreement Foolishly Harms American Exporters As Well As Colombian Businesses & Democracy
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0312wed2-12.html
To a freer Latin America
Mar. 12, 2008 12:00 AM
By obstructing a free-trade agreement with Colombia, Congress is achieving a mathematical impossibility.
If opposition to the deal made no sense in terms of rational self-interest when it was sealed between the U.S. and Colombia in 2006, it makes even less sense now. Less than zero sense.
The agreement signed in November 2006 effectively stabilized an imbalance between the countries.
Most Colombian exports to this country arrive largely duty-free, courtesy of the 1991 Andean Trade Preference Act, which reduced or eliminated trade barriers to Latin American countries that took effective steps to fight drug-trafficking. A former narco-terror hell on Earth, Colombia has taken greater steps to fight the narcotics cartels than, arguably, any nation in the region.
The same relaxed trade rules do not hold for U.S. exports to the South American nation, however.
In 2006, for example, Arizona companies exported a relatively paltry $9.8 million worth of manufactured goods and electronics to Colombia, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. And they paid a healthy fee for that privilege, including tariffs of 10 to 20 percent.
Congressional approval of the Colombian free-trade agreement would strike that imbalance and almost certainly would prove an immediate godsend to Arizona manufacturers that do business with Bogota.
Even as a matter of politics, the obstruction makes no sense.
Since assuming office in 2002, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has made huge progress in stabilizing his formerly war-torn nation. He has created one of the most stable democracies on a continent that otherwise seems to be backsliding toward its tragic roots of totalitarianism, despotism and revolution.
Uribe's long-standing friendship with the U.S. - which is to say, his friendship with President Bush - is the source of his unpopularity on Capitol Hill, of course.
That political principle - any friend of my enemy is my enemy - took center stage on March 1 when Uribe sent his commandos a mile and a half into neighboring Ecuador to take out an encampment of narco-terrorists, killing notorious rebel leader Raul Reyes.
To a freer Latin America
Mar. 12, 2008 12:00 AM
By obstructing a free-trade agreement with Colombia, Congress is achieving a mathematical impossibility.
If opposition to the deal made no sense in terms of rational self-interest when it was sealed between the U.S. and Colombia in 2006, it makes even less sense now. Less than zero sense.The agreement signed in November 2006 effectively stabilized an imbalance between the countries.
Most Colombian exports to this country arrive largely duty-free, courtesy of the 1991 Andean Trade Preference Act, which reduced or eliminated trade barriers to Latin American countries that took effective steps to fight drug-trafficking. A former narco-terror hell on Earth, Colombia has taken greater steps to fight the narcotics cartels than, arguably, any nation in the region.
The same relaxed trade rules do not hold for U.S. exports to the South American nation, however.
In 2006, for example, Arizona companies exported a relatively paltry $9.8 million worth of manufactured goods and electronics to Colombia, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. And they paid a healthy fee for that privilege, including tariffs of 10 to 20 percent.
Congressional approval of the Colombian free-trade agreement would strike that imbalance and almost certainly would prove an immediate godsend to Arizona manufacturers that do business with Bogota.
Even as a matter of politics, the obstruction makes no sense.
Since assuming office in 2002, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has made huge progress in stabilizing his formerly war-torn nation. He has created one of the most stable democracies on a continent that otherwise seems to be backsliding toward its tragic roots of totalitarianism, despotism and revolution.
Uribe's long-standing friendship with the U.S. - which is to say, his friendship with President Bush - is the source of his unpopularity on Capitol Hill, of course.
That political principle - any friend of my enemy is my enemy - took center stage on March 1 when Uribe sent his commandos a mile and a half into neighboring Ecuador to take out an encampment of narco-terrorists, killing notorious rebel leader Raul Reyes.
Many congressional Democrats condemned Uribe for daring to chase the murderous, kidnap-happy
terrorists into a nation that fawns over the drug-running revolutionaries.
Many of them, too, sided in the resulting border flare-up with Uribe's mortal enemy in South American, Hugo Chavez, the leftist president of Venezuela whose popularity in Congress is directly proportional to his hostility to Bush.
Trade protectionism, and the economic menace that surely would accompany it, is in the air this election season.
But snubbing a trade deal with staunchly democratic Colombia - a deal that is pure win-win for the U.S. - makes no sense, regardless.
Congress is protecting no one by fighting the Colombia trade agreement. It should approve the measure now.
Many of them, too, sided in the resulting border flare-up with Uribe's mortal enemy in South American, Hugo Chavez, the leftist president of Venezuela whose popularity in Congress is directly proportional to his hostility to Bush.
Trade protectionism, and the economic menace that surely would accompany it, is in the air this election season.
But snubbing a trade deal with staunchly democratic Colombia - a deal that is pure win-win for the U.S. - makes no sense, regardless.
Congress is protecting no one by fighting the Colombia trade agreement. It should approve the measure now.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
East Africans Fail to Remove Technical Market Access Barriers Amongst Themselves, Despite Adverse Impact on Trade Flows
East Africa: Remove Trade Barriers
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802120616.html
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
EDITORIAL
11 February 2008
Posted to the web 12 February 2008
A workshop was told In Dar es Salaam recently that no member of the East African Community (EAC) has removed non-tariff barriers. This is despite approval of the EAC Council of Ministers that partner states form committees to oversee the issue.
Formation of the national committees was an attempt to address the problem of non-tariff barriers on trade which would now be removed in order to make the movement of goods between member states smooth.
We are a bit perplexed why partner states have not taken steps to implement such an important issue which affects the trade pattern of member states.
For, as it is now, there are many impediments towards smooth trade among them. These hinder the movement of goods from one country to another, contrary to the very purpose of forming the EAC.
Leading forms of barriers include police road blocks, standards requirements, customs procedures, documentation and poor application of the rules of origin.
It is disheartening that while other economic blocks take steps towards closer cooperation the EAC seems to be marking time. And with the turmoil in Kenya it is anybody's guess if member states will ever take steps to implement the resolution of the EAC council of ministers. Let's wait and see.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802120616.html
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
EDITORIAL
11 February 2008
Posted to the web 12 February 2008
A workshop was told In Dar es Salaam recently that no member of the East African Community (EAC) has removed non-tariff barriers. This is despite approval of the EAC Council of Ministers that partner states form committees to oversee the issue.
Formation of the national committees was an attempt to address the problem of non-tariff barriers on trade which would now be removed in order to make the movement of goods between member states smooth.
We are a bit perplexed why partner states have not taken steps to implement such an important issue which affects the trade pattern of member states.
For, as it is now, there are many impediments towards smooth trade among them. These hinder the movement of goods from one country to another, contrary to the very purpose of forming the EAC.
Leading forms of barriers include police road blocks, standards requirements, customs procedures, documentation and poor application of the rules of origin.
It is disheartening that while other economic blocks take steps towards closer cooperation the EAC seems to be marking time. And with the turmoil in Kenya it is anybody's guess if member states will ever take steps to implement the resolution of the EAC council of ministers. Let's wait and see.
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