The conflict between trade and environmental concerns was brought out in the open on the global stage in early February at a World Trade Organization (wto) ministerial. The European Union (eu) had banned some genetically modified organisms (gmos) from 1999 to 2003. The us, with Argentina and Canada, challenged this in wto. wto has declared in favour of the us and declared the ban illegal, in an officially unreleased judgment.

Serious implications
This has again brought to fore the long-standing debate about gm crops. eu may not be greatly bothered with the order because it has revised its regulation regime for gmos but the wto order was one more reminder to everyone about what the failure of the Cartagena Protocol could mean for the world. Many countries are bound to hotly debate the judgment in the conference of parties to the protocol to be held in Curitiba, Brazil, from March 13-17, 2006, just days before the meeting of parties of its parent treaty