French No Longer See Red . . . Americans to Keep Seeing Blue.

The dairy farmers in southern France who produce the coveted Roquefort cheese are a lot happier this week.

A few days ago, U.S. government officials agreed to drop their threat to triple custom duties charged to those who import the salty, bleu cheese which hails from the area near the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. (The U.S. is the 3rd largest export market for Roquefort.)

From what I understand of the agreement, it seems to make sense. If I were a European, I sure wouldn't want hormone-treated beef flooding into my continent.

According to a British news report:

Under the provisional deal, the EU will keep the hormone-treated beef ban, which it claims poses a health threat, but will quadruple imports of non-hormone treated American beef in four years.

In a joint statement, the U.S. and EU trade representatives said: "An agreement is in our mutual interest."

José Bové, a Roquefort farmer, who trashed a McDonalds in 1999 to protest against unhealthy food, said the move meant that the U.S. had "accepted that health is more important than trade."