In the US, about 80 percent of the soy crop, half of the canola crop and 40 percent of the corn crop comes from genetically engineered seeds. As the acreage has grown, Europe's markets have closed.
US corn exports to Europe plummeted from 3.3 million tonnes in 1995 to just 25,000 tonnes in 2002, while Canada has lost all of its canola market to Europe since introducing GM crops, according to EU figures. Farmers in both cases have lost an estimated US$300 million a year.
The Bush administration is challenging the EU moratorium at the WTO, claiming it violates international trade rules. It also opposes the labeling rules, which would do little to remove barriers to generally unlabeled US products.
US biotechnology giant Monsanto Co said it still had concerns about the "workability" of the new regulations and the cost of complying with traceability.
Spokesman Tom McDermott said "one positive consequence" could be if the labels end up "normalizing" such products once consumers start seeing them on store shelves. But he did not sound optimistic.
"Our concerns outweigh our hope right now," he said.
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