The Codex Alimentarius
was created in 1961 and consists of a collection of
international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius
Commission, its governing body. As far as EcoLomics International's scope is
concerned, the Codex represents one of its issue areas in view of the
standard's
involvement in the international regulation of trade in GM food because this
is an environment-related food safety issue.
It can be said that in spite of its
fundamental importance to the international community as the world's most
important reference point in matters concerning food quality and its over 160
member states it is generally not
well known. It is sometimes called, for good reason, the least known of all
really important multilateral organizations. That is due to some extent to its
very complex and highly procedural functioning. Administered jointly by the FAO and the WHO (but financed to approximately
80% by the FAO!) the Codex has achieved a much increased importance since 1995 thanks
to the fact that the WTO's SPS Agreement refers to it directly and the TBT
Agreement indirectly as their reference point. It has the
double and easily conflicting mandate of "protecting the health of
consumers and facilitating fair practices in the food
trade" (there is no definition provided for the notion of fair trade!).
Links
Codex Alimentarius FAO/WHO
Food Standards
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp
Consumers International,
London
http://www.consumersinternational.org/documents_asp/ViewACategory_levelBelowOnly.asp?regid=135&CategoryID=954&langID=1
Consumers Union, New York
(Communications Office)
http://www.consumersunion.org/i/Food_Safety/Genetically_Engineered_Food/index.html
FAO, Interdisciplinary Activities domain 'Biotechnology in Food and
Agriculture'
http://www.fao.org/biotech/index.asp?lang=en
Greenpeace (various locations)
http://www.google.ch/search?q=greenpeace+codex+alimentarius&hl=de&lr=&start=20&sa=N
International Center for Trade
and Sustainable Development, Geneva
http://www.ictsd.org/
Free electronic suscriptions:
Bridges Weekly
Bridges Trade BioRes
Bridges Monthly: on the Web and in Print
Authoritative information on trade and sustainable development
L'édition française avec Enda-Tiers monde: Passerelles
http://www.ictsd.org/africodev/edition/passerelle/passarc.htm
Urs Klemm
Chair FAO/WHO Codex Coordination Committee for Europe
http://www.ursklemm.ch/
WHO, Information on Genetically Modified Food
http://www.who.int/topics/food_genetically_modified/en/
WTO
http://www.wto.org
