04/26/07 Getting WTO On Track & Tainted Food

Getting WTO back on track and Tainted Foods plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. There have been many things keeping the Doha Round of the World Trade talks from coming to a successful conclusion. Market access is certainly a big issue but U.S. Trade Ambassador to the WTO Peter Allegeir, says governments keep going back to try to get talks restarted. ALLEGEIR: There certainly is a realization among leaders and governments of the importance of this, of completing the round. So I think people need to take that seriously. Whether they believe in a particular date or not I don't really have any control over but the fact that people keep going back and trying to make it work shows that governments realize that this is something that is very important. The recent pet food recalls have now been expanded to include human foods. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration are inspecting six grain products imported to be used in foods ranging from bread to baby formula for traces of melamine, a chemical thought to have killed and sickened cats and dogs. There may have even been some pork contaminated in California after pigs were fed possible contaminated food. There is little research on melamine's effect on humans, according to World Health Organization, but they do not classify the chemical as a carcinogen for people. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. While the media revels in the sport of Bush bashing I would like to take my lone minute to reflect on some of the global contributions his administration has made. For one, President Bush has done more than any president (other than Lincoln) to fight the slave trade. The president has made the 21st Century slave trade part of his "compassion agenda" one that also includes unprecedented funding for AIDES. Anti- slave trafficking programs in more than 120 countries have received nearly three hundred million dollars and 24 nations have enacted new laws to combat trade in human lives. Most recently, Bush has taking the unpopular stance of creating a new policy within the Food For Peace program that would help diminish the middlemen and funds lost to large agribusiness and shipping conglomerates. Under his revision food would be purchased from regions' adjacent to the hunger crisis. Former President Clinton speaking at a recent charity event remarked this change would a great help to farmers in Africa and would be to president Bush's "everlasting credit" that he proposed buying food aid in poor countries. Hum, Clinton accolades, food aide, a stance against big business, human rights issues, where's the liberal press when you need them? Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.