Financial Times (London)
June 27, 2003
Letter: The WTO is not hostile to animal welfare
From Mr Thomas M. T. Niles.
Sir, Ms Ailsa Pain (Letters, June 24) is profoundly wrong in her charge that World Trade Organisation rules would in some way prevent member states from enacting laws and regulations to protect animal welfare. As has been repeatedly demonstrated in recent years, WTO members are perfectly free to adopt such laws and to give them trade effects, provided such laws and regulations are scientifically justified (ie non-protectionist) and are applied in a non-discriminatory manner.
The US law protecting dolphins from tuna fisheries was correctly found to be non-compliant with WTO rules solely because it discriminated in favour of US fishermen and against their foreign competitors. The claim that the WTO is somehow environmentally unfriendly really should be put to bed, once and for all.
Thomas M. T. Niles
President, United States Council for International Business, New York, NY 10036, US
Copyright 2003 The Financial Times Limited
