EPA Watch Clinton orders agencies to weave environmental priorities into U.S. trade policy Federal agencies in January began developing guidelines for implementing an executive order (E.O. 13141) that requires environmental reviews of most trade agreements. President Clinton signed the order just before the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks kicked off in Seattle, WA, at the end of November. While the executive order gives CEQ joint leadership—along with the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR's) office—for implementing its requirements, the order authorizes only USTR to conduct these environmental reviews. A USTR spokesperson maintained, however, that "the reviews we do are always an interagency process, so environmental agencies and other agencies with relevant expertise will be involved." She noted that EPA has participated actively in trade policy all along and played a major role in environmental reviews of the North American Free Trade Agreement; the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the WTO's predecessor); and liberalization of the forest products trade, which was completed in November 1999. The executive order lays out the basic parameters on the types of trade agreements covered and generally outlines how the reviews will be conducted and made available to the public. The guidelines under development will offer more specifics on how environmental input should be solicited and addressed as tradenegotiating objectives take shape, the USTR spokesperson said. Likewise, the guidelines should provide a better idea of how interagency decisions will be reached and what other trade agreements are sufficiently significant environmentally to warrant a review. © 2000 American Chemical Society
Thousands of citizens protesting last November's World Trade Organization talks pushed the environmental impact of trade to the forefront of public debate.
"It's analytically quite difficult to predict with much confidence the economic effects of agreements while they're being negotiated, and extrapolating the environmental effects is something we'll all learn from," the USTR spokesperson said. Environmentalists have generally applauded Clinton's move. "This really formalizes a process we consider crucial to integrating the environment into trade agreements," said Jake Caldwell, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Trade and Environment Program. But Caldwell cautioned that the manner in which the program is implemented and the timing of implementation will be key, as well as what role environmental agencies such as EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) will play in the process.
Agency reassessing GM crop rules and regulations An EPA science advisory panel reevaluating the agency's risk assessment protocols for genetically modified (GM) crops will release its recommen-
dations this month. EPA is reviewing a number of rules and testing requirements in response to the widely publicized research showing tiiat Monarch butterflies could be harmed by genetically modified (GM) crops (ES&T 1999, 33 (21), 301A). Although the Department of Agriculture has jurisdiction over most transgenic crops, EPA's purview currently includes any crops that are genetically engineered to contain pesticides like Bacillus thuringiensis. The agency plans to determine whether it should have broader authority over all GM crops in a ruling due out by the end of the year, said Stephen L. Johnson, associate deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS). The protocols that the agency uses for environmental risk assessment were largely culled from tests developed for chemical pesticides and microorganisms. Whether these protocols are adequate for evaluating the potential for gene transfer and the persistence of genetic material like pollen in the environment
MARCH 1,2000/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 1 1 9 A
