* Heather Berit Freeman is an Executive Editor for the Boston College International & Comparative Law Review.
1 Graham R. Chambers, The BSE Crisis and the European Parliament, in EU Committees: Social Regulation, Law and Politics 95, 96 (Christian Joerges & Ellen Vos eds., 1999).
2 John B. Richardson, Agriculture in the EU and the United States: Common Values and Converging Policies, Address Before the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (Mar. 3, 2000), at http://www.eurunion.org/news/speeches/2000 (last visited Feb. 2, 2001).
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 Id.; CHARLES E. HANRAHAN, THE EUROPEAN UNION’S BAN ON HORMONE-TREATED MEAT 1 (Cong. Research Servs. Short Rep. for Cong. RS20142, 2000).
6 See generally Fraser Cameron, The EU and US: Good Friends—Tough Negotiators, Presentation at the European Chamber of Commerce Lunch (June 12, 2000), at http://www.eurunion.org/news/speeches/2000.
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 Id.
10 Id.
11 Cameron, supra note 6.
12 Press Release, Council of Ministers, 2309th Council Meeting—AGRICULTURE—Brussels, (Nov. 20, 2000), available at LEXIS, European Union Library, News File [hereinafter Council Meeting]. SRM include sheep and goat heads, spleens from animals of any age, spinal cords from animals greater than a year old, and the following bovine materials: the entire head—including the eyes but excluding the tongue, spinal cord, thymus, tonsils, spleen, and intestines from cattle greater than six months old. Paul Brown et al., Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Background, Evolution, and Current Concerns, in Emerging Infectious Diseases (2001), available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/v7n1.pdf (as of Dec. 22, 2001).
13 Sandra Blakeslee, Stringent Steps Taken by U.S. on Cow Illness, N.Y. Times, Jan. 14, 2001, at A1.
14 CHARLES E. HANRAHAN, U.S. EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL TRADE: FOOD SAFETY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY ISSUES 2 (Cong. Research Servs. Rep. for Cong. 98-861, 2001) [hereinafter AGRICULTURAL TRADE].
15 Id. at 1.
16 Id.
17 Id. at 3.
18 U.S. Dep’t of Agric. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv., Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Jan., 2001), at http://www.aphis.usda.gov:80/oa/pubs/fsbse.html (last visited Dec. 22, 2001) [hereinafter BSE (Jan., 2001)].
19 Id.
20 Id.
21 Id.
22 Id.
23 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
24 Id.
25 Id.
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
29 Id.
30 Id.
31 Id.
32 U.S. Dep’t of Agric. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv., Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), at http://www.aphis.usda.gov:80/oa/bse/index.htm (last visited Feb. 2, 2001) [hereinafter BSE factsheet].
33 Id.
34 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
35 Brown, supra note 12.
36 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
37 Brown, supra note 12.
38 Id.
39 Id.
40 Id.
41 Id.
42 Brown, supra note 12.
43 See id.
44 Id.
45 Id.
46 See BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
47 Brown, supra note 12.
48 Id.
49 Id.
50 Court of Auditors, Follow up to Special Report No. 19/98 on BSE, together with the Commission’s Replies, 2001 O.J. (C 324) 1, 7 [hereinafter Follow up]. Statistics current as of May 31, 2001. Id.
51 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
52 Id.; Follow up, supra note 50, at 7.
53 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
54 Id.
55 Chambers, supra note 1, at 99.
56 Id.
57 Id.
58 Brown, supra note 12.
59 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
60 See Tony Judt, Europe Is One—Until Disaster Strikes, N.Y. Times, Feb. 6, 2001, at A19.
61 Id.
62 Bethan Hutton, It Took Just One Dairy Cow to Change the Lives of Millions, Fin. Times (London), Nov. 22, 2001, at 14.
63 Id.
64 BSE factsheet, supra note 32.
65 Id.
66 BSE (Jan., 2001), supra note 18.
67 Id.
68 Kevin Toolis, Epidemic in Waiting, The Guardian (London), Sept. 22, 2001, at 20.
69 Chambers, supra note 1, at 96.
70 See id.
71 Id. at 97.
72 Id.
73 Id.
74 Chambers, supra note 1, at 97.
75 Id. at 96–97.
76 Terrence P. Stewart et al., Trade and Cattle: How the System Is Failing An Industry in Crisis, 9 Minn. J. Global Trade 449, 500 (2000).
77 Id.
78 See Marjorie Miller, Europe Has New Beef with Biotech Foods, L.A. Times, Jan. 7, 2001, at C1.
79 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 500.
80 Id.
81 For a description of such restrictions, see generally European Comm’n, Community Legislation on BSE, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/bse/bse15_en.pdf (last visited Mar. 4, 2001) [hereinafter Community Legislation].
82 See id.
83 Id.
84 See id.
85 Id.
86 Council Meeting, supra note 12.
87 Id.
88 Id.
89 Id.
90 Id.
91 Council Meeting, supra note 12.
92 Council Directive 2000/766/EC, 2000 O.J. (L 306) 32.
93 Id.
94 Id.
95 Id.
96 Id.
97 Council Decision 2001/8/EC, 2001 O.J. (L 2) 28.
98 For a greater description, see David Byrne, Latest Developments in Relation to BSE, Address to Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament (Jan. 23, 2001), at http:// europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/library/speeches/speech78_en.htm [herein- after Latest Developments].
99 Commission Regulation 2777/2000, 2000 O.J. (L 321) 47; see Council Decision 2001/8/EC, 2001 O.J. (L 2) 28.
100 See Council Decision 2001/8/EC, 2001 O.J. (L 2) 28.
101 See id.
102 Latest Developments, supra note 98.
103 Id.
104 Id.
105 Comm’n of the European Communities, Frequently Asked Questions about BSE, Rapid, Nov. 29, 2000, available at LEXIS, European Union Library, News File.
106 Follow up, supra note 50, � 47.
107 Id. � 48.
108 Id. � 52.
109 Id. � 55.
110 Id.
111 For the text of the USDA’s efforts, see U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv., Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Response Plan Summary (Oct., 1998), available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/bse/bseum.pdf [hereinafter Response Plan].
112 U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv., USDA Actions to Prevent Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov (last visited Feb. 2, 2001) [hereinafter USDA Actions].
113 Id.
114 Id.
115 Id.
116 Id.
117 U.S. Food and Drug Admin., FDA Talk Paper, FDA Prohibits Mammalian Protein in Sheep and Cattle Feed, (June 3, 1997), at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpprotei.htm.
118 USDA Actions, supra note 112.
119 Restrictions on the Importation of Ruminants, Meat and Meat Products from Ruminants, and Certain Other Ruminant Products, Fed. Reg. 406, 407 (Jan. 6, 1998) (to be codified at 9 C.F.R. pts. 94, 96).
120 USDA Actions, supra note 112.
121 Id.
122 Id.
123 The FDA announced the finding in Press Release, U.S. Food and Drug Admin., FDA Announces Test Results from Texas Feed Lot (Jan. 30, 2001), available at http:// www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2001/new00752.htm [hereinafter Test Results]; Tina Hesman, Purina Mills Recalls Feed after Some Is Found to Contain Banned Material, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 27, 2001, at 6.
124 Id.
125 Hesman, supra note 123, at 6.
126 Test Results, supra note 123.
127 Id.
128 Id.
129 Id.
130 Id.
131 See generally Press Release, U.S. Dep’t of Agric., USDA Removes Quarantined Sheep from Second Vermont Farm (Mar. 23, 2001), available at http://www.usda.tgov/ news/releases/2001/03/0053.htm [hereinafter Quarantined Sheep].
132 Id.
133 Id.
134 Id.
135 Id.
136 Quarantined Sheep, supra note 131.
137 See generally Press Release, U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Harvard Study Shows Very Low Risk of BSE in the United States (Nov. 30, 2001), available at http://www.usda.gov/news/re-leases/2001/11/0241.htm.
138 Id.
139 Id.
140 Id.
141 See generally Press Release, European Commission, Outcome of the Agriculture Council, 29 January 2001, BSE and the Beef Market (Jan. 30, 2001), available at http:// europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/library/press/press105/en.htm [hereinafter BSE and the Beef Market].
142 Id.
143 Id.
144 Id.
145 Id.
146 See BSE and the Beef Market, supra note 141. As of January 30, 2001, the purchase for destruction scheme had begun in France, Ireland, and to a lesser extent, in Spain and Luxembourg; Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Greece had not started implementing the plan. Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark are exempt from the plan, and Austria and Belgium have asked for exemptions. Id. Before the passage of the EU legislation, the United Kingdom already had its own purchase for destruction scheme in place for animals over thirty months. Id.
147 Id. France and Ireland accounted for 60% and 28%, respectively. Id.
148 Holly Hubbard Preston, Cattle Crises Reverberate Through the World Economy, Int’l Herald Trib., Aug. 18, 2001 at 13.
149 U.S. Dep’t of Agric., Foreign Agric. Serv., Does the EU’s BSE Crisis Present Opportunities for U.S. Exporters?, Wkly. Mkt. Rep.: Dairy, Livestock, & Poultry, Dec. 1, 2001, available at http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp/highlights/00–12/wmr_1201.pdf [hereinafter Opportunities for U.S. Exporters].
150 Id.
151 Id.
152 Id.
153 Id.
154 Opportunities for U.S. Exporters, supra note 149.
155 Jonathan Eig, Horse d’Oeuvres? Mister Ed Becomes the Other Red Meat, Wall St. J., Mar. 30, 2001, at A1.
156 Id.
157 Id.
158 Id.
159 Id.
160 Eig, supra note 155, at A1.
161 Id.
162 Hanrahan, supra note 5.
163 Id.
164 Id.
165 Id.
166 Id.
167 Agricultural Trade, supra note 14, at 2.
168 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 500.
169 Kevin C. Kennedy, Resolving International Sanitary and Phytosanitary Disputes in the WTO: Lessons and Future Directions, 55 Food Drug L.J. 81, 83–84 (2000).
170 Hanrahan, supra note 5.
171 Kennedy, supra note 169, at 84.
172 Id.
173 Hanrahan, supra note 5.
174 Kennedy, supra note 169, at 86.
175 Id.
176 Id.
177 SPS Committee Completes Draft on Risk “Consistency,” Noticias, Mar. 15–16, 2000, available at http://www.wto.org/spanish/news_s/news00_s/sps_s.htm [hereinafter SPS Committee Completes Draft].
178 Id.
179 WTO Committee on Trade and Environment, Communication from the European Commission on the Precautionary Principle, WTO Doc. WT/CTE/W/147 (June 27, 2000), available at http://docsonline.wto.org [hereinafter Precautionary Principle].
180 Id. � 4.
181 Id. �� 7, 8.
182 Id. � 8.
183 Id. � 24.
184 Precautionary Principle, supra note 179, � 25.
185 Id. � 26.
186 Id. � 29.
187 Id.
188 Id. Annex II.
189 Precautionary Principle, supra note 179, Annex II.
190 See Hanrahan, supra note 5.
191 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 496, 500.
192 Id. at 496.
193 Id. at 500.
194 Id.
195 Id.
196 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 496. The Commission’s ban on GMOs was found inconsistent with Articles 3.1, 5.1, and 5.5 of the SPS Agreement. Id.
197 Id. at 500.
198 Id. at 496.
199 Kennedy, supra note 169, at 95.
200 Id.
201 Id.; Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 501.
202 Kennedy, supra note 169, at 96.
203 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 496.
204 Id. at 501.
205 Id.
206 Id.
207 Id.
208 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 501.
209 Id.
210 Id.
211 Id. at 502.
212 Id.
213 See Press Release, Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, European Union and the United States Sign Veterinary Agreement (Jul. 20, 1999), available at http://www.eurunion.org/news/press/1999/1999048.htm [hereinafter Veterinary Agreement].
214 Id.
215 EU, U.S. Engage in Game of Trade “Chicken,” Eurecom (Apr., 1997), at http://www. eurunion.org/news/eurecom/1997/ecom0497.htm [hereinafter Chicken].
216 Id.
217 Id.
218 Veterinary Agreement, supra note 213.
219 Id.
220 Id.
221 See id.
222 Id.
223 SPS Committee Completes Draft, supra note 177.
224 Id.
225 Id.
226 See id.; see generally Hanrahan, supra note 5.
227 WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Guidelines to Further the Practical Implementation of Article 5.5, WTO Doc. G/SPS/15 (July 18, 2000), available at http://docsonline.wto.org [hereinafter Guidelines].
228 Id.
229 Id.
230 SPS Committee Completes Draft, supra note 177.
231 Id.
232 See Jeffrey R. Bernstein, What’s So Scary About Trade, the WTO, and Globalization?, La Follette Pol’y Rep., Fall, 2001, at 1, 12.
233 Id.
234 White Paper on Food Safety, WTO Doc. G/SPS/GEN/169 (Mar. 14, 2000), available at http://docsonline.wto.org.
235 Id.
236 Id.
237 Bernstein, supra note 232, at 12.
238 Id.
239 Id.
240 For the background of this proposal, see Towards a European Food Authority, at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/efa/index_en.html (last visited Dec. 28, 2001) [hereinafter European Food Authority].
241 Id.
242 For a description of the EFA’s functions under the proposal, see Press Release, Food Law from Farm to Table—Creating a European Food Authority (Nov. 8, 2000), at http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/library/press/press82_en.html.
243 Stewart et al., supra note 76, at 502.
244 Id.
245 Agricultural Trade, supra note 14, at 5.
246 Id.
247 Id.
248 White Paper on Food Safety, supra note 234, � 99.
249 Id.
250 Id.
251 Id.
252 Press Release, Commission Improves Rules on Labeling and Tracing of GMOs in Europe to Enable Freedom of Choice and Ensure Environmental Safety (July 25, 2001), at http:// www.europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/biotech/biotech_index_en.html [hereinafter Commission Improves Rules].
253 Id.
254 Id.
255 Id.
256 The proposed legislation is described by David Byrne, A European Approach to Food Safety and GMOs, Speech at the National Press Club (Oct. 9, 2001), at http://www. europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/biotech/biotech_index_en.html.
257 Id.; Commission Improves Rules, supra note 252.