They are fighting a new kind of trade dispute about sensitive policy issues, suchasfoodsafety and environmental protection, that were once exclusively domestic.
The role of government research agencies across the world is to provide their governments with evidence-based information to inform policy on issues of public interest suchasfoodsafety, climate change and healthcare.
It has to become more open and transparent. (At Mexico's insistence, its press officers have been gagged since May 1st.) It is increasingly asked to adjudicate on sensitive issues suchasfoodsafety and environmental protection that have become the stuff of trade disputes in a globalising economy.