Scientific, Political, and Cultural Complexities of International Trade in Animals and Animal Products

Challenges facing U.S. trade in animals, poultry and associated products

The U.S. enjoys tremendous competitive advantage in its broiler and pork industries. We produce some of the healthiest and least expensive poultry and swine products. With a totally "level playing field" such as the WTO has planned, there is great danger that the U.S. could cause collapse of domestic industries in some importing countries where U.S. aid programs are striving to develop market economy based production animal agriculture.

The WTO SPS Agreement does not work very well with nonmember countries. Notable nonmembers are China and Russia. Either of these countries could embargo U.S. products for non-scientific reasons and succeed.

The "precautionary principle" provides that products can be denied entry because of a perceived risk to human health which is currently not quantifiable. Europeans have exercised the precautionary principle numerous times in denying U.S. beef because of the concern about growth promotants. There is as yet no reliable scientific evidence one way or the other regarding human health hazards from growth promotants, yet the European Union is successfully blocking U.S. beef because of the possibility that it might be determined a risk in the future.

The U.S. government and its stakeholders need to recognize and address several major realities as a result of globalization:

• The eyes of the world are upon U.S. officials to see if we live the rules or just talk them.

• Our international credibility is our most cherished and most fragile possession.

• Our disease monitoring, surveillance, and reporting systems must be squeaky clean to establish professional credibility and engender the trust of trading partners

• U.S. trade goals are mainly to expand export markets and because of stringent measures and little reliance on animal-related imports, we usually have very little to offer in give-and-take trade discussions.

• The privatization of regulatory functions and partnering with regulated industries will require careful checks and balances and good judgment to assure U.S. regulators maintain the independence, impartiality, and credibility required to meet certification requirements of importing countries.

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