June 28, 1999

More than 30 national agricultural trade associations and food companies have come out in strong support of the Clinton Administration's position on international food policy and standards as the Codex Alimentarius Commission begins deliberations today.

In a letter to President Clinton, they said a strong U.S. position favoring science-based food safety standards and opposition to the "precautionary principle" is a critical component of the Codex deliberations. Codex is the international scientific body responsible for establishing sanitary and phytosanitary standards used by the World Trade Organization to determine the legitimacy of technical barriers to trade.

The precautionary principle is viewed as a threat to food safety standards for international trade of agricultural and food products. "We are troubled that the concept undermines the scientific basis for food safety standards both domestically and internationally," said Alexander S. Mathews, president and CEO, Animal Health Institute, one of the groups supporting the U.S. position.

"Sustaining the precautionary principle and the use of socio-economic factors not relevant to risk assessment jeopardizes U.S. trade with subtle protectionism," he added. AHI maintains that the risk assessment principles and risk management standards applied in the United States are extensive and include several types of precaution. Incorporating a separate precautionary principle into Codex standards will weaken domestic food safety policy and provide opportunities to exclude U.S. products form world commerce with no related improvements in the safety of the international food supply, AHI says.