The Bush administration called Europe`s policy illegal, saying that scientific research had shown genetically altered crops to be safe. The European Union "denies choices to European consumers," Richard Mills, a spokesman for the United States trade representative, Robert Zoellick, said in a statement today.European officials said the long-term effects of altered food remained uncertain.EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said any U.S. legal proceedings at the WTO would be overtaken by events, because the moratorium on genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, is gradually ``defreezing.'' Talks between the two sides broke off Thursday in Geneva, and U.S. officials said they would soon request the world`s top trade regulator to convene a panel to hear the case. The United States says the WTO should order the 15-nation European Union to end the moratorium on grounds that it is an unfair trade barrier.</p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/international/europe/20TRAD.html">NYT: Talks Collapse on U.S. Efforts to Open Europe to Biotech Food</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/health/AP-US-EU-Biotech.html">NYT: EU`s Lamy dismisses US case</a></p><p><a href="http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/eu_meets_us_over_gm_trade.html">Friends of the Earth: Press Releases: 2003: EU MEETS US OVER GM TRADE WAR</a>