Publication: A Race to the Top? A Case Study of Food Safety Standards and African Exports
Date
2001-03
ISSN
Published
2001-03
Author(s)
Otsuki, Tsunehiro
Wilson, John S.
Sewadeh, Mirvat
Abstract
Growing concern over health risks
associated with food products is at the forefront of trade
policy debate. At the heart of this debate is the
"precautionary principle," which holds that
precautions should be taken against health, safety, and
environmental risks even when science has not established
direct cause-and-effect relationships--as with, for example,
the EUropean ban on hormone-treated beef. The authors
quantify the impact on food exports from African countries
of new EUropean Union standards for aflatoxins, structurally
related toxic compounds that contaminate certain foods and
lead to the production of acute liver carcinogens in the
human body. The authors estimate the impact of changes in
differing levels of such protection based on the EU
standards (and suggested by international standards) for 15
EUropean countries and 9 African countries between 1989 and
1998. The results suggest that implementation of the
EU's new aflatoxin standards will significantly hurt
African exports to EUrope of nuts, cereals, and dried
fruits, which are highly sensitive to the aflatoxin
standards. The EU standards would reduce health risks by
only about 1.4 deaths per billion a year but would cut
African exports by 64 percent, or $670 million, compared
with their level under international standards.
Citation
“Otsuki, Tsunehiro; Wilson, John S.; Sewadeh, Mirvat. 2001. A Race to the Top? A Case Study of Food Safety Standards and African Exports. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2563. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19691 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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