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C O N F I D E N T
I A L VATICAN 000514
SIPDIS
http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2005/08/05VATICAN514.html
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)
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Summary
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1. © 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.
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USG, Holy See Officials Meet
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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.
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Science and Safety not the Problem
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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_study/en/index.html
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Economic Angle is Crucial
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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.
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Opposition Still Active
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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.
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Comment: Next Steps
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6. © 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. © 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 |
