Cibus, Lex, Commercium : Food Law and Plantenomics in World Trade

Large food producers in some of the most-powerful trading nations attain so much influence through international trade and outsourcing, that they become leaders in corporate governance and the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international body capable of regulating the international trade that feeds globalization. This paper analyzes the importance of the WTO’s role and its dispute resolution process within the international food trade system based on a discussion of corporate governance in the food industry and the Cartagena Protocol. Important examples discussed in this paper are the WTO’s dispute resolution of American genetically modified (GM) crops that were forced into the European market, Coca-Cola’s water depletion in India, and Monsanto’s international seed patents. In international food law related disputes, the WTO panels should allocate both corporate private rights and socialist ideals and disputing trade partners should bargain over settlement outcomes within the boundaries set by law. The resulting precedent, in turn, would induce behavioral changes in all WTO signatory nations, and, if legally enforced, promote economics, public health, and environmental protection simultaneously