Europe and developing countries clashed with the US yesterday about the global trade in genetically modified commodities, with the former demanding strict labeling and liability laws and the latter seeking looser guidelines.
As a five-day conference on biotechnology safety neared its conclusion, government officials, scientists and environmentalists from more than 80 nations remained mired in disputes about whether gene-spliced crops might benefit -- or befoul -- human health and the environment.
Divisions surfaced in nearly every discussion on how to implement the UN Cartagena Protocol, which aims to protect Earth's diversity of life from biotechnology's possible risks by ensuring countries receive enough information to let them accept or reject gene-modified imports.
"There are still many contentious issues," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Doreen Stabinsky.
US officials said identification papers accompanying bio-engineered shipments meant for release into the environment -- such as new varieties of corn for cultivation -- shouldn't have to include details on how they've been genetically modified. India and Iran disagreed.
Swiss delegate Francois Pythoud, who chaired talks on the transport of biotech goods, expressed hopes that before the conference ends today, delegates might agree on "compromise language" for texts that suggest how shipments should be identified.
Ethiopia and other African nations called for a legally binding international regime that allows people to seek compensation from exporters if gene-modified organisms contaminate their environment or damage their health. But many countries refused to debate legalities for now.
"It's urgent to have an international liability regime now," said Juan Lopez, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth International. "In the US, there are now crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins and chemicals that could seriously harm the environment and human health."
Environmentalists also accused biotech crop producers that haven't ratified the Cartagena Protocol -- such as the US and Canada -- of undermining the treaty by trying to persuade other countries to sign agreements with them on shipping procedures.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not