KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Europe and developing countries clashed with the United States Thursday about the global trade in genetically modified commodities, with the former demanding strict labeling and liability laws and the latter seeking looser guidelines.

As a five-day conference on biotechnology safety neared its conclusion, government officials, scientists and environmentalists from more than 80 nations remained mired in disputes about whether gene-spliced crops might benefit-or befoul-human health and the environment.

Divisions surfaced in nearly every discussion on how to implement the U.N. Cartagena Protocol, which aims to protect Earth's diversity of life from biotechnology's possible risks by ensuring countries receive enough information to let them accept or reject gene-modified imports.

"There are still many contentious issues," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Doreen Stabinsky.

U.S. officials said identification papers accompanying bio-engineered shipments meant for release into the environment-such as new varieties of corn for cultivation-shouldn't have to include details on how they've been genetically modified. India and Iran disagreed.

Swiss delegate Francois Pythoud, who chaired talks on the transport of biotech goods, expressed hopes that before the conference ends Friday, delegates might agree on "compromise language" for texts that suggest how shipments should be packaged and identified.

Ethiopia and other African nations called for a legally binding international regime that allows people to seek compensation from exporters if gene-modified organisms contaminate their environment or damage their health. But many countries refused to debate legalities for now.

"It's urgent to have an international liability regime now," said Juan Lopez, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth International.

"In the U.S., there are now crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins and chemicals that could seriously harm the environment and human health."

Environmentalists also accused biotech crop producers that haven't ratified the Cartagena Protocol-such as the United States and Canada-of undermining the treaty by trying to persuade other countries to sign separate agreements with them on biotech shipping procedures.