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### Viewing cable 09MADRID482, SPAIN'S BIOTECH CROP UNDER THREAT

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09MADRID482 | 2009-05-19 12:12 | 2010-12-19 12:12 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Madrid

`

    VZCZCXRO7893
    PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
    DE RUEHMD #0482/01 1391201
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    P 191201Z MAY 09
    FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0645
    RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC PRIORITY
    INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
    RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3981

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000482

    SENSITIVE
    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR EUR/WE AND EEB/TPP/ABT/BTT
    USDA FOR OSTA/LIZ JONES, OCRA/JOE KOWALSKI, OFSO/DAVE YOUNG
    USEU for AGRMINCOUNS DEBRA HENKE
    USEU ALSO FOR APHIS AGRMINCOUNS PETER FERNANDEZ
    PARIS FOR AGRMINCOUNS ELIZABETH BERRY
    BERLIN for AGRCOUNS BOBBY RICHEY

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: EAGR ECON TBIO SP
    SUBJECT: SPAIN'S BIOTECH CROP UNDER THREAT

    MADRID 00000482 001.2 OF 002

    ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 12.

    SUMMARY

    ¶2. (SBU) Spain's MON810 corn crop is under threat from an emerging
    well-coordinated campaign to ban cultivation of genetically
    engineered seed varieties in Europe, according to industry sources.
    The campaign has gained strength and speed in recent months with the
    April 14 German ban on MON810 cultivation - which followed an EU
    vote supporting maintenance of a ban in Austria and Hungary.
    Legislation which threatens MON810 cultivation has also been
    introduced recently in both the Basque and Catalonian Regional
    Parliaments.

    ¶3. (SBU) In response to invocation of a safeguard and emergency
    measure to suspend MON810 cultivation in France, the European Food
    Safety Authority's (EFSA) Scientific Opinion of October 29, 2008
    found no new scientific evidence of risk related to MON810
    plantings. The EFSA report, however, is being questioned. Monsanto
    maintains that anti-MON810 momentum was gained by a de facto
    agreement between the Government of France and Greenpeace/Friends of
    the Earth whereby the GOF would support the anti-GMO movement and
    environmental activists would turn a blind eye to Sarkozy's nuclear
    energy initiatives. A senior Spanish agriculture official has
    expressed concern that Spain is under increasing pressure within the
    EU. Post requests renewed USG support of Spain's science-based
    agricultural biotechnology position, as well as support for a
    non-USG science fellow to interact with Spanish interlocutors. End
    Summary.

    BACKGROUND

    ¶4. (SBU) Spain was the first EU country to grow genetically
    modified (GM) corn and now cultivates nearly 75 percent of the EU's
    MON810 corn crop - nearly 200,000 acres. During a May 13 meeting
    with Monsanto's Director for Biotechnology for Spain and Portugal,
    Embassy officials were told that Spain is increasingly becoming a
    target of anti-biotechnology forces within Europe and that Spain's
    cultivation of MON810 corn was under serious threat. The sentiment
    echoed by supporters of agricultural biotechnology regarding a ban
    on MON810 cultivation in Spain is that "If Spain falls, the rest of
    Europe will follow."

    ¶5. (SBU) Anti-biotechnology activists in the EU have gained
    momentum in recent weeks. On April 14, Germany announced a ban on
    the cultivation of MON810 following similar bans in France, Austria,
    Hungary, Greece and Luxembourg, despite EU approval of MON810 as
    safe for commercial use. This followed a March 2 vote in which
    Spain joined with France and other EU corn producers to allow
    Austria and Hungary to maintain their provisional bans on the use
    and sale of MON810 corn. According to Ministry sources, this
    surprising vote did not represent a change in position by Spain on
    biotechnology; rather, technical considerations justified upholding
    the provisional bans pending EU-wide renewal of MON810 corn.
    Industry contacts, however, assert that Spain's vote was a political
    gesture to thank French President Sarkozy for helping to arrange
    President Zapatero's presence at the November 2008 G-20 financial
    summit in Washington.

    ¶6. (U) The GOS has traditionally been a strong supporter of biotech
    corn due to high domestic demand for feed corn within the livestock
    sector. Spain is the number two pork producer within the EU and the
    number one corn importer. GM corn plantings in Spain reached nearly
    200,000 acres in 2008 - approximately 30 percent of total Spanish
    feed corn production. Cultivation of MON810 corn is mainly
    concentrated in Aragon and Catalonia, where the European corn borer,
    which MON810 protects against, is a serious pest. The feed compound
    industry and the livestock sector are supportive of GM corn. Within
    the agriculture sector, only left-wing farmers' unions have negative
    opinions of GMOs.

    RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

    ¶7. (SBU) Anti-GMO forces periodically attempt to build support for
    a prohibition on GMO cultivation in Spain. According to Monsanto's
    biotechnology director, two left-wing parties have recently
    discussed introducing such legislation in the Spanish parliament. A
    Socialist (ruling) party Member offered reassurances that his party
    would oppose such a move, but advised that the issue bears watching,
    especially given the government's uncertain majority.

    ¶8. (U) In addition, there have been worrisome developments in
    several of Spain's 17 autonomous communities, which, led by

    MADRID 00000482 002.2 OF 002

    Catalonia and the Basque Country, continue to seek more autonomy via
    a vis the central government. In March 2008, the Canary Islands
    were declared GM-free. Since fewer than 1,380 acres of corn are
    grown in the Canaries, this is considered mostly a symbolic gesture.
    However, on February 5, 2009, an initiative was proposed in the
    Catalonian Regional Parliament to declare the region GM-free. The
    initiative has not yet come up for a vote, and its prospects are
    uncertain. Such an action would be cause for serious concern, since
    Catalonia is a center of GMO corn cultivation. More recently, on
    April 21, 2009, the Basque Parliament passed stringent biotech
    coexistence legislation which could likely force farmers to halt
    planting of MON810 due to strict compliance issues. The Spanish
    Association of Biotechnology Industries (ANOVE) will challenge the
    Basque legislation.

    ¶9. (U) In February 2008, France notified to the EC an Order
    suspending cultivation of MON810 and further invoked safeguard and
    emergency measures to provisionally prohibit the cultivation of
    MON810 on its territory. In response, the Scientific Panel on
    Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority
    (EFSA) issued a Scientific Opinion on October 29, 2008. In its
    report, the panel assessed the package of documents supporting and
    justifying the French safeguard clause and the duration of the
    invoked measure. The panel concluded that, in terms of risk to
    human and animal health and the environment, the information
    provided by France presented no new scientific evidence that would
    invalidate the previous risk assessments of MON810. It further
    concluded that invoking the safeguard clause and emergency measure
    was scientifically unjustified. The EU is currently facing the
    MON810 cultivation renewal process. The renewal is the legal
    condition for the lifting of the ban under French law. Within the
    scientific review carried out by EFSA, the Spanish authorities and
    experts have completed the environmental risk assessment for MON810
    corn. According to Monsanto, the EFSA Scientific Opinion report is
    being questioned. The GOF has sent letters to different Member
    States urging them to sign up and request an in-depth examination of
    the application for the renewal of MON810.

    ¶10. (SBU) Monsanto asserts that anti-MON810 momentum was gained by
    a de facto agreement between the Government of France and
    Greenpeace/Friends of the Earth whereby the GOF would support the
    GMO-free movement if activists turned a blind eye to President
    Sarkozy's nuclear energy initiatives. In Spain, agricultural
    factions against agricultural biotechnology include the
    environmental side of MARM and organic farmers. Increasingly,
    consumers are also expressing negative attitudes toward genetically
    modified crops. On April 18th, the newspaper "El Pas" conducted a
    survey on whether or not GM food should be prohibited. The
    following results were obtained after a one month period: 85 percent
    voted "Yes, they can be dangerous" and 15 percent voted "No, they
    are absolutely safe".

    ¶11. (SBU) Secretary of State and Deputy Minister Josep Puxeu
    contacted the Charg d'Affaires on April 22, following the Basque
    vote on coexistence and the German ban, to express his concern that
    the Government of Spain is under increasing pressure to ban MON810
    cultivation. Puxeu, a long-time supporter of agricultural
    biotechnology, lamented that it was "the most complicated week of my
    life." He asked that the USG maintain pressure on Brussels to keep
    agricultural biotechnology an option for Member States and requested
    that the USG work together with Spain in this endeavor. Deputy
    Minister Puxeu is becoming increasingly isolated on biotech issues
    at the Ministry OF Environment and and Rural and Marine Affairs
    (MARM) due to the rising influence of environmental officials within
    MARM as well as the increased influence of France within the Spanish
    government. While MARM Minister Espinosa has come out publicly in
    favor of genetic engineering in agriculture, her views on issues
    will generally reflect those of the Zapatero Administration which
    has recently shown itself to be fickle when it comes to voting
    against France's anti-GMO interests.

    ¶12. (SBU) ACTION REQUESTED: In response to recent urgent requests
    by MARM State Secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests
    renewed USG support of Spain's science-based agricultural
    biotechnology position through high-level USG intervention in
    support of the EFSA findings. Post also requests USG support for a
    non-USG science fellow to meet with influential Spanish
    interlocutors on this issue and assistance with developing an
    agricultural biotechnology action plan for Spain. Post would also
    welcome any comments from other posts concerning the anti-GMO
    campaign.

    DUNCAN

`