Meat and airplanes: Onishchenko's long arm?
I. The roctopamine question as a political argument
Comrade Onishchenko tightly took up the meat issue. In one sitting, the main man from Rospotrebnadzor put almost insurmountable barriers to pork and beef from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
December 7, the day after US Senators approved the Magnitsky Act, which was paired with the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, our sanitary authority notified veterinary services of these countries about the need to ship pork and beef only after conducting pre-export laboratory tests of meat for the presence of ractopamine. The Russian ministry said that the use of this drug "is among the insufficiently studied controversial issues because of the possible negative impact on human health."
Comrade Onishchenko did not prohibit the importation of meat into Russia. It only requires accompanying documents that the animals did not receive ractopamine. However, in the United States such certification is not provided, and therefore a new sanitary requirement means the emergence of insurmountable barriers to the meat supply.
Meat sellers were outraged: after all, Russia is now in the WTO. And if Onishchenko took the decision the next day after voting on the “Magnitsky Act”, then the press started talking about the “answer”. Comrade Onishchenko had previously instilled fear in both Moldovans and Georgians, but now he has reached far abroad.
Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia, spoke about the decision of Rospotrebnadzor on Twitter: "This is the worst unfortunate development of events," and US Agriculture Secretary Tom Wislak and US Trade Negotiator Ron Kirk called on Russia to lift the restrictions.
But the words of Onishchenko cannot be broken. And why should he cancel the decision if many countries of the world made the decision exactly the same earlier? Did they condemn them in the US?
Gennady Grigorievich сказал America: “It remains only to regret that analysts of the American Federation for the Export of Meat lacked just a bit of imagination to classify the 27 countries of the European Union, China and all other 167 countries, in which the use of this drug is banned by the US Senate, the scientific rationale for the safety of which is a huge doubt. "
According to the head of Rospotrebnadzor, the ban to add hormones to meat imported into Russia is dictated not by politics, but by food safety: "In Russia, there is no national standard for ractopamine and is not included in the register of drugs registered and allowed for use in the country."
American piglets and bull-calves, having cracked ractopamine, grow too fast. The chief state sanitary doctor of Russia has information that ractopamine use is accompanied by a decrease in body weight, impaired reproductive function, and an increase in mastitis.
Professor of the National Research University of the Higher School of Economics in conversation with a correspondent "Voices of America" He noted that the situation that has now arisen in connection with the introduction of restrictions on the supply of meat from the United States "does not constitute anything that goes beyond the limits of WTO practice." He said: “The Russian side proceeds from the fact that it does not violate the rules of membership in the WTO. Bans can be entered if they have a scientific rationale. In the course of consultations, Russia will have to submit its scientific justification for the ban. The conflict will be resolved if the United States considers the rationale acceptable. ”
While accusing the chief Russian sanvrach of political zeal, Americans forget that another department, the Rosselkhoznadzor, warned the veterinary services of Canada, the United States, Mexico and Brazil in September about a new rule regarding ractopamine testing. BUT this department everything can, because he is in the hands of "the function of protecting the population from diseases common to humans and animals." Therefore, before the entry into the game of Comrade Onishchenko, the American senators had time to think before adopting the “Magnitsky Act”.
Ii. Beef and fighter
Brazil also found itself in a difficult position, which the Rospotrebnadzor and the Rosselkhoznadzor also came to grips. In this country, was discovered a whole veterinary and sanitary "bouquet".
Restrictions on Brazilian exports to the Russian Federation were introduced in June 2011. They were considered temporary and were taken due to some (not widespread) inconsistencies of products with sanitary standards. It was about several Brazilian states, where farmers too fed cows with growth hormones. For Brazil, the question of exporting beef was extremely important, especially considering that Russia is the first meat exporter, and since August 2011, trade has gradually resumed.
In press writethat Brazilian meat exports, despite sanitary restrictions, were stable in 2012. For January-October, Brazil has traded with us for 1 billion. 430 million dollars. (According to "Sheets", in January-November, this country provided 43% of Russian beef imports). In early December, it was reported that Russia is suspending a ban on the import of Brazilian beef. The resumption of exports from the three states - Mato Grosso, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, where they have previously indulged in hormones - will be based on issuing an additional accompanying declaration confirming the absence of growth hormone in meat. In January, 2013, this issue should be finally resolved - at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil and the Russian Rosselkhoznadzor. However, Comrade Onishchenko can always say his word.
And only Brazilians have calmed down, as 11 of December has learned: Russia is again considering the need to suspend imports of beef from Brazil. The captious Rosselkhoznadzor, already almost convinced of the absence of unpleasant hormones in the beef, suddenly found in Brazilian meat some signs of spongiform encephalopathy (in other words, mad cow disease). Rosselkhoznadzor, like Comrade Onishchenko, is also easy to point out that there are other countries that have detected and sounded the alarm: for example, Japan, which buys Brazilian beef in very small quantities, suspended import following Brazil’s message to the International Epizootic Bureau about the discovery of protein, which is considered to be the cause of the aforementioned disease. True, the Brazilian authorities say that the protein was discovered two years ago, and the case was isolated.
It did not help that the Brazilian authorities imposed a temporary ban on the use of ractopamine in the country since December 12. Brazilian authorities have established the prohibition of ractopamine until the country has developed a system for separating meat production for domestic consumption, for deliveries to countries where the use of the additive is permitted, and to countries that have banned this growth drug. But what about Moscow ractopamine, if we are talking about rabies?
Feeling that it was a problem, President Brazil Dilma Rousseff got on a plane and went to Moscow. It was December 14. Dilma did not even regret her birthday, which she had to celebrate in the cold snowy Russia.
However, nothing happened to her. She looked at the Swan Lake ballet and returned to her homeland - to a country where there are many wild monkeys in the forests.
At the end of the Kremlin meeting, she said: “We sent all the information to the Russian authorities and we think that the embargo will be lifted as soon as the relevant analyzes are carried out.”
Analyzes in Russia can be done endlessly, one after another, in the intervals between them, finding more and more new signs of either mad cow disease, or the use of ractopamine, or discovering microbes that have never been seen before and that threaten the health of the entire planet.
Probably, the Brazilian side’s acquisition of Russian Su-35C fighters, which the Sukhoi corporation hopes to sell, would help speed up sanitary procedures. Previously, in 2006, this company was mercilessly excluded from the tender for the purchase of combat fighters (we are talking about 36 machines). For the right to supply under the contract worth 4-5 billion euros, the French company Dassault is now fighting the Rafale fighter jets, the American Boeing with the F / A-18 Super Hornet and the Swedish Saab with the Gripen NG combat aircraft ".
Dilma Rousseff made it clear to the Russians that the decision on the tender has not yet been made. “For now, we are very careful about costs. The decision on this contract may take additional time, depending on how quickly we manage to stabilize the budget ", - said she is in Paris, where she negotiated before flying to the capital of Russia.
Meanwhile, Moscow 14 December has achieved something. The parties signed four agreements, including a contract for the supply of seven Ka-62 helicopters.
Interestingly, Brazil hopes to sell Russian aircraft itself - no, not military, passenger. Vice President of Embraer Jackson Medeiros de Farias Schneider, who also visited Moscow, сообщилthat interstate aviation The committee issued a Type Certificate for the Embraer-190 Brazilian medium-range aircraft. A rather interesting step, especially since this model would become a competitor in the domestic market of the Russian Federation for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 project. Moreover, Embraer intends to sell up to 150 airliners in Russia by 2020. Apparently, Brazil is tired of selling meat, sugar, coffee, tobacco and soy.
Recently, new technical talks between the Rosselkhoznadzor and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply have been held in Moscow. The Brazilians assured that they are ready to fulfill any requirements of the Customs Union and Russia and provide oral and written guarantees for the quality of meat products. No more ractopamine and no gram of rabies. Solid healthy meat grown unhurriedly antiquated way.
Following the meeting, experts from the Rosselkhoznadzor сообщили the press that both parties expressed satisfaction with the results of the negotiations and the intention to continue mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of veterinary supervision.
It is difficult to say what leads where: the lifting of the embargo on Brazilian meat to the aircraft tender, or the tender to cancel the embargo. In the same way, it is also difficult to suppose whether Comrade Onishchenko was referring to the “Magnitsky Act”, or simply the dates ominously coincided. But one can assume that if Comrade Onishchenko does not object, the Rosselkhoznadzor will accept Brazilian documents, and the Russians will buy even more Brazilian meat, then the Sukhoi corporation will have to solve the question posed in the back: "SSJ 100" in Russia Brazil. Because Dilma and Jackson Medeiros de Farias Schneider, following the resolution of questions about meat and Soo, are not too lazy to fly to Moscow again - for the sake of the Embraer-35 aircraft. Lobbying at the state level is now accepted. Even Hillary Clinton, who recently tried to promote the interests of the private company Westinghouse in the Czech Republic, is not shy about doing this.
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