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### Viewing cable 05VATICAN514, VATICAN: LOOKING AHEAD ON BIOTECH

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05VATICAN514 | 2005-08-26 07:07 | 2010-12-10 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Vatican

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000514

    SIPDIS

    DEPT. FOR EB; EB/TPP/ABT/BTT; EUR/WE (TCUNNINGHAM)

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/26/2015
    TAGS: PREL PHUM TBIO EAGR EAID SOCI VT
    SUBJECT: VATICAN: LOOKING AHEAD ON BIOTECH

    REF: A. A) ROME 2543,

    ¶B. 05 ROME 2543, 03 VAT 4859; 03 ROME 5205; 04 VAT 3810

    CLASSIFIED BY: Peter Martin, Political Officer, POL, STATE.
    REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (C) Recent conversations between Holy See officials and
    USAID and EB representatives visiting the Vatican confirmed the
    cautious acceptance of biotech food by the Holy See. Vatican
    officials asserted that the safety and science of genetically
    modified foods would eventually be non-issues at the Holy See.
    Preoccupation at the Vatican, they said, was tied more to
    economic arguments, as some fear that widespread use of GMO food
    in the developing world would subjugate its farmer population
    and become a form of economic imperialism simply serving to
    enrich multi-national corporations. There remains vocal
    opposition among some Catholic laypeople and clergy to biotech
    food, and signs are not strong that the papacy or other Vatican
    entities with which Post has worked are ready to issue a
    stronger endorsement of these technologies. However, by
    focusing on the economic benefits of GMO food for
    developing-world farmers, safeguards in place to prevent
    economic exploitation, and ongoing research on non-cash crops
    such as cassava, Post will continue to engage the Holy See on
    what we have called the "moral imperative" of biotech food. A
    Vatican document on world hunger planned for drafting this fall
    offers another opening for our work on the issue and a chance to
    influence a wide segment of the population in Europe and the
    developing world.

    ----------------------------
    USG, Holy See Officials Meet
    ----------------------------

    ¶2. (SBU) Michael Hall, Biotechnology Advisor for USAID's
    Regional Economic Development Services Office in Nairobi, met
    with Monsignor James Reinert of the Pontifical Council for
    Justice and Peace (J and P), and Jack Bobo, Deputy Chief,
    EB/TTP/ABT/BTT, met with Fr. Michael Osborn of the Pontifical
    Council Cor Unum, offering a chance to push the Vatican on
    biotech issues, and an opportunity for Post to analyze the
    current state of play on biotech in the Vatican generally. Both
    meetings took place at the Vatican. J and P takes the official
    lead on biotech issues at the Vatican, and has been quite active
    in recent years, often working closely with Post (03 VAT 4859;
    03 ROME 5205; 04 VAT 3810). Cor Unum, the Vatican's
    clearinghouse for aid efforts worldwide, is another potential
    ally on biotech, as food aid to the developing world is a great
    part of its brief.

    ----------------------------------
    Science and Safety not the Problem
    ----------------------------------

    ¶3. (SBU) Discussing the climate on biotech foods at the
    Vatican, Osborn assured Bobo that doubts about the safety and
    the legitimacy of the science of these technologies would not be
    a long-term problem in efforts to bring the Holy See further
    along on biotech. He noted that the Holy See did not feel that
    the genetic modification of plants posed any moral problem.
    Osborn mentioned a few clerical and other critics who had spoken
    out at Post's biotech conference last year co-sponsored by the
    Pontifical Academy of Sciences (04 VAT 3810), raising the alarm
    about the alleged dire effects of biotech food on health and the
    environment. "You're going to have a few people who continue to
    use scare tactics about the science," Osborn said, "but little
    by little, they will cease to be a factor." Within the Vatican,
    he said, the mainstream opinion is that the science is solid.
    Bobo filled Osborn in on recent studies that backed up this
    view, and directed him to a recent World Health Organization
    (WHO) report that found: "GM foods currently available on the
    international market have passed risk assessments and are not
    likely to, nor have been shown to, present risks for human
    health." The report is available in English, French, and
    Spanish at:
    http://www.who.int/foodsafety/biotech/who_stu dy/en/index.html.

    -------------------------
    Economic Angle is Crucial
    -------------------------

    ¶4. (SBU) According to Osborn, the main issue for the Church
    will continue to be the economic angle of biotech food. Many in
    the Church fear that these technologies are going to make
    developing-world farmers more dependent on others, and simply
    serve to enrich multi-national corporations. In his

    conversation with Reinert, Hall also acknowledged this concern,
    but noted that some researchers were working on crops such as
    cowpeas and cassava that were unlikely to make big profits, but
    could benefit the developing world. Bobo pointed out to Osborn
    that competition between companies and the regulatory process in
    individual countries provided some safeguards on these issues.
    Poloff mentioned presentations given at Post's conference
    showing that in several communities in various parts of the
    developing world, the advent of biotech crops had brought
    significant economic benefits for developing-world farmers.
    While seed companies had made some profits, the big losers
    appeared to have been multi-national pesticide companies.
    Describing several examples of his group's projects, Hall
    assured Reinert that USAID initiatives sought to empower
    Africans and address their needs rather than blindly promote
    U.S. interests.

    -----------------------
    Opposition Still Active
    -----------------------

    ¶5. (SBU) Post notes that Catholic opposition to biotech food is
    still active. Elements of the Catholic population, primarily in
    the English-speaking world, peppered the Pontifical Academy of
    Sciences and J and P with hostile emails when they moved forward
    on the issue in the past two years. The UK-based anti-GMO
    Catholic Institute for International Relations has been very
    active on the issue, as well, often through the influential
    English Catholic magazine, the Tablet. (In fact a letter from a
    CIIR member in the July 30 Tablet made questionable assertions
    attacking biotech.) Reinert said that many clergy, especially
    those working in the developing world, continued to be
    anti-biotech, though many seemed uninformed about the science.
    He pointed to the Philippines as a country with a particularly
    anti-GMO Catholic hierarchy, joking that the Filipino Church
    would "go into schism" if the Vatican came out any stronger for
    biotech food.

    -------------------
    Comment: Next Steps
    -------------------

    ¶6. (C) By word and action the Pontifical Council for Justice
    and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences have
    established the Holy See as giving at least a cautious go-ahead
    to bioengineered foods. It may be difficult to get much more in
    the near future. The pope has not shown his cards on the issue,
    but some feel he may have been influenced by European prejudices
    against biotech food. Further, before the papal transition, J
    and P sent a document laying out a moral/theological case for
    biotech food to the pope's old curial dicastery for clearance --
    the theological watchdog Congregation for the Doctrine of the
    Faith (CDF). For whatever reason, the document never came back
    from CDF. What's more, Post's greatest ally at the Vatican on
    the question, Cardinal Renato Martino of J and P, may be through
    pushing the issue. A Martino deputy told us recently that the
    cardinal had cooperated with Embassy Vatican on biotech over the
    past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval
    of the Iraq war and its aftermath -- to keep relations with the
    USG smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels
    the need to take this approach.

    ¶7. (C) Despite these less encouraging signs, 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. According to Osborn, Cor Unum will be taking
    the lead this fall on the updating of a Holy See document on
    world hunger. In light of recent work that has been done on the
    subject, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
    United Nations' 2003-04 State of Food and Agriculture report
    that gave a cautious backing to the use of biotech food for the
    developing world, it will be difficult for the Holy See to avoid
    the issue. We will continue to press the "moral imperative" of
    biotech, publicizing and sharing data that show the economic
    benefit of these technologies to farmers, and explaining the
    safeguards that exist to prevent economic exploitation. Sharing
    information on research on non-cash crops such as cassava will
    also be important to winning Vatican hearts and minds.

    SANDROLINI

`