Release No. 0224.98 
Statement


                               by
             Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman
    Regarding the WTO's Decision on the EU Beef Hormone Ban
                          May 28, 1998


  "We are pleased with the WTO's final decision that the European Union must
bring its ban on meat from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones into
compliance with the WTO Dispute Settlement Panel and Appellate Body rulings by
May 13, 1999. 

  "This decision shows that the WTO dispute-settlement process works, even in
the case of sensitive, long-running disputes.  The disciplines of the WTO
Sanitary-Phytosanitary Agreement, for which the United States fought long and
hard in the Uruguay Round, have been preserved.  Countries have been put on
notice that they can no longer hide behind measures that have no scientific
basis and are inconsistent with obligations to which they have agreed.

  "U.S. beef producers have waited a decade for this day to come.   We trust
that the EU will now do the right thing and implement market opening measures
by the WTO-mandated deadline.  The United States, and now the WTO, expect
nothing less."



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