WikiLeaks: U.S. Wanted Trade War Over GM Crops
A UN observer is seen through the smashed windows of a car outside a Shiite holy shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus, after a suicide car bomb exploded there early on June 14, 2012, wounding at least 14 people and damaging one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, Syrian state media and witnesses reported. / LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/GettyImages
The U.S. ambassador to France urged George W. Bush's administration to wage a trade war against European Union nations over their resistance to genetically modified crops, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
Europe's reluctance to accept genetically modified crops, or GM foods, into the market has threatened to cut off a key export market for American farmers.
CBS Special Report: WikiLeaks
GM foods are still viewed with far greater suspicion in most of Europe than in the United States, where they've been common on dinner tables for years.
According to the leaked cable, Ambassador Craig Stapleton, a friend and former business partner of Bush, sent a message to Washington in 2007 suggesting the U.S. government, "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.
"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," said Stapleton, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Guardian reports that other newly released cables also suggest U.S. diplomats were pushing GM crops on reluctant trade partners as a "commercial imperative" - including lobbying the Vatican to drop its public opposition to the food.
Copyright 2011 CBS. All rights reserved. Europe's reluctance to accept genetically modified crops, or GM foods, into the market has threatened to cut off a key export market for American farmers.
CBS Special Report: WikiLeaks
GM foods are still viewed with far greater suspicion in most of Europe than in the United States, where they've been common on dinner tables for years.
According to the leaked cable, Ambassador Craig Stapleton, a friend and former business partner of Bush, sent a message to Washington in 2007 suggesting the U.S. government, "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.
"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," said Stapleton, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Guardian reports that other newly released cables also suggest U.S. diplomats were pushing GM crops on reluctant trade partners as a "commercial imperative" - including lobbying the Vatican to drop its public opposition to the food.
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4 Comments Add a Comment
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- Remember the real problem with Monsanto and their extortion thugs is that their GM seeds are patented. They patented nature. I can't make this stuff up. What moron at the patent office let this through? So now the junk is in the wild and it infects non GM crops. That's bad enough. What do the Monsanto thugs do? They sue the farmers who were actually harmed by the GM seeds infecting their crops. What is the charge? That they USED the seeds and then re-harvested them without paying for them. HA! That's like releasing the ebola virus and then suing everyone who gets infected. The utter irony is the moronic and failed justice system in the United States sides with Monsanto! Crikey!
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- I suppose we could stop selling them food altogether. Bring down the prices for American consumers and any excess corn could be used for ethanol. I know, too simplistic, but it sounds nice anyway...
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- Many Americans and I, support the Co-op's and farmer's markets buying locally grown produce that is not genetically modified; the rest of the world should know that. I am not sure who is supporting genetically modified food or GM in United States? Anyone know?
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- Embarrassing stuff no doubt but classified super secret, pinky swear documents? I don't think so.....
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