U.S. tried to punish critics of genetically-modified food
American diplomats urged Washington to punish European countries that opposed the growth of genetically-modified crops, according to leaked cables.
The U.S. embassy in Paris said retaliation should be taken to cause ‘some pain across the EU’ to any governments resisting the spread of the technology.
The diplomatic message was in the latest cache of secret cables made public by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
Anti-GM food protesters make their mark by lying naked in a West Sussex field to make the sign "No GM". US diplomats urged Washington to punish European countries that opposed the growth of genetically-modified crops, it has emerged
The request came in response to moves by France in 2007 to ban a GM corn made by American biotechnology giant Monsanto.
U.S. ambassador Craig Stapleton, a close friend and business partner of then President George Bush, said the White House should launch a military-style trade war against GM sceptics in Europe.
A close friend of then President George Bush, U.S. ambassador Craig Stapleton, said the White House should launch a military-style trade war against GM sceptics in Europe
‘Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits,’ he wrote.
‘The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory.
‘Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices,’ added the ambassador, who co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team in the 1990s with Mr Bush.
The WikiLeaks cables also showed that America put pressure on the Pope’s advisers because of the vehement opposition from some Catholic bishops to GM foods in developing countries.
Messages urged for the Pope to be lobbied to go public with his supposed support for the crops.
‘Opportunities exist to press the issue with the Vatican, and in turn to influence a wide segment of the population in Europe and the developing world,’ read one cable from the U.S. embassy in the Vatican.
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