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Abstract
The paper discusses the mechanisms by which World Trade
Organization (WTO) influence the diffusion of genetically modified (GM)
products. We have analyzed the connection between the international trade of
GM products and the three WTO Agreements: the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Sanitary and Phytosanitary
(SPS) Agreement and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It
can be concluded that the mechanisms of the WTO organization are often used
as instruments of threat to nations seeking to ban imports of GM food. In failing
to acknowledge and support the precautionary principle, the WTO may have
further weakened its authority to make decisions affecting the human health and
environment and, in so doing, lessened its legitimacy in the world arena.