European Union official Dan Rotenberg says the EU must accept biotech food and feed or it won't be able to feed its livestock and would then need to import meat from animals fed biotech crops in the U.S. or elsewhere. Rotenberg, the European Commission counselor to the U.S., told attendees at the American Farm Bureau Federation's 90th annual meeting that food imports produced through biotechnology should be less of a problem for European Union countries as the rest of the world adopts them.
European attitudes about biotechnology have been shaped by one-sided, anti-biotech arguments from the environmental group Greenpeace. Rotenberg said that group has been forceful in advancing its agenda, likening it to the influence the Humane Society of the United States exerts on animal welfare issues in the U.S.
According to Clare Thorp, Ag attaché for the Embassy of Ireland, European consumers continue to resist foods which may contain pesticide residues. Ironically, EU resistance to pesticides may make biotech products more acceptable because pesticides can't be used.
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