The letter, sent to US trade representative Michael Froman and EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht, argued that both EU and US food safety laws should be upheld during negotiations to protect consumer health and the environment.
It urged negotiators to reject calls from US agribusiness for the TTIP to undermine the precautionary principle, which is enshrined in EU legislation and the Lisbon Treaty and “encourages rigorous scientific debate along with public input, when setting policy regarding the safety of new and emerging agricultural technologies and food additives”.
The letter stated: “Those of us in the European Union reject any weakening of the use of the precautionary principle, while those of us in the US demand that our negotiators not make any proposals that would preclude its use in the future and would remember that the US is already party to treaties that invoke the precautionary principle and has incorporated versions of it into US environmental and occupational safety laws.”
It argued that a free trade agreement could result in a weakening of standards on both sides, with the US pushing for the EU to accept the use of ractopamine in pork and the EU potentially using the negotiations to erode stringent US meat safety requirements, such as the zero tolerance standards for listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat products and E.coli 0157:H7 in beef products.
It added that the US was likely to approve more genetically modified foods, while the EU was considering relaxing standards on the use of ruminant materials in feed.
Secretive negotiations
The letter also objected to the inclusion of investment provisions in the TTIP, which would “empower investors to sue sovereign nations over rules or conditions that may reduce their expected profits”, including environmental and public health laws.
Finally, the letter criticised the “secretive” nature of the negotations so far, pointing out that the TTIP negotiating mandates do not require the publication of draft texts or guarantee informed public debate.
“Many of our organisations have submitted comments on the TTIP or participated in meetings with trade officials charged with starting the negotiations,” it said.
“We fear we will be forced, however, to rely on leaked bits of text to assess the degree to which our proposals are being addressed, which is a far cry from the standards of democracy and transparency that we expect from public policy.”
Signatories to the letter included Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Soil Association and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.