Australia's food safety and quarantine standards are coming under increasing pressure from bilateral trade agreements such as the Australia-US FTA. Despite the risks to Australian health and agriculture, quarantine standards have already been lowered to accommodate increased trade. Further concessions are likely in negotiations for FTAs with China, Thailand and other countries. Hilary Bambrick argues that trade agreements should be used as a mechanism to raise world standards for food safety and quarantine rather than lowering standards to the lowest common denominator. A summary of her report is available via the link below.