To Spray or Not to Spray? Pesticides, Banana Exports, and Food Safety
How governments regulate food safety and environmental protection, including pesticide residue levels, has important implications for trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001, included statements on...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2013
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/03/1737108/spray-or-not-spray-pesticides-banana-exports-food-safety http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14322 |
| Summary: | How governments regulate food safety and
environmental protection, including pesticide residue
levels, has important implications for trade. The World
Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial held in Doha, Qatar in
November 2001, included statements on standards, and their
impact on market access for developing countries. These
issues will continue to be important in trade policy
dialogues. It is assumed - and evidence from recent analysis
confirms - that food safety standards can affect the ability
of agricultural producers to meet regulatory standards, set
by importing countries. The authors explore a fundamental
question in food safety and environmental standards: Do
regulations on pesticide have an effect on trade? They
examine regulatory data from 11 OECD importing countries,
and trade data from 19 exporting countries. The results
suggest that a 10 percent increase in regulatory stringency
- tighter restrictions on the pesticide chlorpyrifos - leads
to a decrease in banana imports by 14.8 percent. This
represents a significant impact on trade, and affect
prospects of developing countries who continue to rely on
exports of agricultural commodities, such as bananas. The
findings also suggest that the lack of consensus on
international standards, and divergent national regulations
on pesticides is costly. For example, the authors estimate
that if the world were to adopt a standard at a level of
regulatory stringency suggested by Codex (the body charged
with setting global standards in this area), in contrast
with one set at the level in place in the European Union,
there would be a U$S 5.3 billion loss in world exports. |
|---|