The latest batch of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks last week reveals the extent to which US diplomats promote the interests of biotech companies around the world. The cables, dating from 2005-2010, reveal how United States diplomats have been responsible for pushing genetically modified (GM) products on behalf of large agribusinesses in Asia, Africa and South America.

The revelations come after diplomatic cables released in January showed US officials in European embassies had put pressure on Spain and France, two countries where public opinion is extremely anti-GM, and even the Vatican, to speed up Europe’s biotechnology approval process. image expired

Cables from 2008, released by Wikileaks, reveal the fallout from France's decision to ban Monsanto’s MON-810 corn, which, although initially approved for use in the EU in 1998, has since been banned by several states.

Craig Stapleton, the former US ambassador to France, after a "rancorous" debate in the French Parliament over proposed biotech legislation, wrote that French officials "expect retaliation via the World Trade Organization" for upholding the ban on MON-810. Stapleton said, "There is nothing to be gained in France from delaying retaliation," and advocated 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 asserted, "Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices."

Sarah Damian, New Media Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the USA's leading whistleblower advocacy organization, described as "astonishing" the revelations that, "Not only were U.S. diplomats working on behalf of the biotech industry, they were also advocating threatening other governments who didn't follow suit."

Only two GM crops are cleared for production in the EU, MON 810 accounts for the majority of the EU's crops; it is mostly grown in Spain. While sowings of GM corn increased slightly this year, plantings of Amflora potatoes, which also have EU approval, are expected to have fallen "significantly." A recent report from United States Department of Agriculture attaches across Europe described public opinion in the community as "hostile" to GM crops.