US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA412

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000412 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
BUDAPEST FOR POSNER-MULLEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2015 
 
TAGS: SENV, EAGR, ETRD, LO 
SUBJECT: THE FUTURE OF GMOS IN SLOVAKIA 
 
REF: BRATISLAVA 42 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR DEBRA HEVIA for 
Reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
 1. (SBU)  Summary.  Econoff held a series of meetings to 
assess the status of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in 
Slovakia.  The Minister of Environment Laszlo Miklos, 
previously a supporter of GMOs, has now succumbed to 
unspecified political pressures and is attempting to bar 
their usage in Slovakia.  A wide range of sources may have 
motivated this reversal, including Greenpeace, the religious 
impulses of the Christian Democratic Party (KDH), and 
neighboring countries Austria and Hungary.  Public opinion on 
GMOs has also reached a crucial period, as attitudes formed 
in the next couple of years may grow strong roots.  End 
Summary. 
 
THE REVERSAL OF MIKLOS 
---------------------- 
 
2.  (C) Igor Ferencik, Director of the Biosafety Department 
of the Ministry of Environment (MOE), disclosed Miklos, 
turnaround.  Miklos is a scientist with a graduate-level 
background in environmental studies and biology.  As a 
result, he understands the technical aspects of the science 
behind GMOs and, accordingly, assented to a pro-GMO approach 
in the past.  He also based his prior position on an MOE 
funded opinion poll (reftel), which concluded that 58% of 
Slovaks are supportive of GMOs.  According to Ferencik, 
Miklos has now reversed course and informed him that the MOE 
will not allow any GMO plantings in Slovakia, including those 
already approved by the EU.  Further, Miklos no longer wants 
to entertain any debate or listen to scientific discussion on 
the subject.  Ferencik also confided that Miklos knows that 
an official moratorium would have no legal merit in the EU. 
He said Miklos agreed on a de facto cessation with the 
Ministers of Environment in Hungary and Austria.  As a 
result, the Slovak Environmental Inspection Agency, an MOE 
institution, pursued and signed an agreement with U.S. seed 
producer Monsanto not to sell GMO seeds in Slovakia this 
planting season.  Although Monsanto consented to this 
arrangement in 2005, it still hopes to begin selling GMO 
seeds in 2006. 
 
3.  (C) The catalyst behind Miklos, turnaround remains 
unclear but appears to be political.  According to Ferencik, 
anti-GMO activist groups such as Greenpeace have regular 
meetings with the Minister, but it is unlikely that they 
wield sufficient influence to directly explain the change. 
Ferencik added, however, that Greenpeace does have leverage 
with the Environmental Committee (ENVC) in parliament which 
in turn advocates against GMOs to the Slovak cabinet.  When 
Econoff met with Peter Muransky, Vice-Chairman of the ENVC 
and member of KDH, he did in fact repeat Greenpeace,s 
typical arguments, and even used its specific (erroneous) 
examples of cross-fertilization and their resulting 
destruction of farmland. 
 
4.  (SBU) Jan Turna, Head of the Molecular Biology Department 
at Comenius University and founder of a new pro-GMO NGO, 
Modern Technologies and Society (MTS), echoed Ferencik,s 
comments.  He differed in saying that Greenpeace did have an 
influence on Miklos.  Turna further stated that local 
Greenpeace leaders were largely his former students (and that 
he thought he had taught them better academic skills).  Turna 
additionally opined that Miklos has been pressured, 
specifically by Austria and to a lesser degree Hungary, to 
forge a regional GMO &blockade8. 
 
5.  (SBU) Turna said that Muransky, another former student, 
is influential and misguided.  Both Turna and Ferencik 
observed that Muransky and the KDH are opposed to GMOs in an 
effort to follow what they mistakenly believe to be the 
Vatican,s negative stance.  Muransky confirmed that 
assertion when he told Econoff that the Vatican opposes all 
efforts to &tinker8 with genetics, GMOs included.  Econoff 
confirmed with Embassy Vatican that the Catholic Church is 
not opposed to GMOs but, in fact, has made various positive 
statements about their usage.  When Econoff presented 
published copies of such statements to Muransky, he admitted 
that they were interesting but proceeded to dismiss them as, 
&taken out of context8.  (Comment:  Post is seeking 
additional data to help ensure that the KDH has an accurate 
understanding of the Vatican disposition.  Miklos, Hungarian 
Party and Muransky,s KDH are close allies, and the KDH view 
may also be influencing Miklos.) 
 
THE BATTLE FOR PUBLIC SENTIMENT 
 
------------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Ferencik lamented that the GMO battle was really a 
public relations problem and that not enough reliable 
information is available.  Greenpeace and other NGOs have 
ample time to lobby ministries, parliament, and the media 
while knowledgeable farmers and scientists often do not have 
similar opportunities.  Ferencik talked about a journalist 
who had visited a GMO-based farm in Spain and received a 
first-hand education on its products.  Upon returning to 
Slovakia, she wrote one of the few pro-GMO articles ever 
written in the country.  In fact, Ferencik asserted that most 
pieces written about GMOs contain an exaggerated headline, 90 
percent unscientific, alarmist data, and perhaps only 10 
percent factual information.  Turna agreed, and further cited 
debates on public television where he was given a fraction of 
the speaking time provided to the opposition. 
 
7.  (SBU) In the past, Turna and his colleagues have written 
papers and books expounding the many benefits of GMOs, but 
realized that their efforts were not adequately accessible to 
the non-scientific community.  As a result, they formed MTS 
to create an outlet to share international expertise and 
experiences.  MTS has already received a two-year grant from 
EU Structural funds and has a three-part plan to educate the 
general public, middle and high school teachers, and 
journalists.  MTS has only limited funds to draft and publish 
information that is comprehensible and accessible to 
non-scientists.  For now the group is working in the 
Bratislava region, but plans to expand as soon as further 
funds become available. 
 
MOVING AHEAD 
------------ 
 
8.  (SBU) Despite the lack of support in the MOE, the 
Ministry of Agriculture is currently drafting an EU compliant 
coexistence law to describe the regulations for GMO plantings 
in combination with traditional seeds.  While the law will 
technically allow GMOs approved by the EU to be planted in 
Slovakia, it remains unclear if Miklos will attempt to 
declare an illegal moratorium or find another stalling tactic 
to impede GMOs in the future.  Additionally, the current 
draft of the coexistence law comes into force in June 2006, 
which would already cause farmers (and Monsanto) to lose 
2006,s planting season.  Post will continue its efforts to 
dispel myths about GMOs and advocate on behalf of Monsanto. 
HURLBERT 
 
 
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