US embassy cable - 05MADRID2985

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AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY:CODEX AD HOC TASK FORCE ON BIOTECH FOODS

Identifier: 05MADRID2985
Wikileaks: View 05MADRID2985 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy Madrid
Created: 2005-08-19 11:29:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: EAGR ECON TBIO SP
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

191129Z Aug 05

 
UNCLAS MADRID 002985 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EB/TPP/ABT - JACK BOBO 
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/SLUTSKY 
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS/ITP FOR WOOLSEY 
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS BSIMMONS 
DEPT OF AGRICULTURE/FAS/FAA FOR BLEGGI 
BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AG MINCOUNS 
EU POSTS TO AGRICULTURE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR, ECON, TBIO, SP 
SUBJECT: AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY:CODEX AD HOC TASK FORCE 
ON BIOTECH FOODS 
 
REF: A. (A) AUGUST 12 
 
     B. 2005 SCHONANDER-BOBO E-MAIL (B) STATE 147159 
 
1. Trade policy officer discussed contents of ref B on August 
12 with the GOS working-level head of the interministerial 
working group charged with coordinating Codex issues.  His 
name is Juan Carlos Calvo (Ministry of Health).  Tel : 34 - 
9133808883.  E-mail: jcalvo@msc.es  He will not be attending 
the meeting in Japan.  Maria Dolores Gomez (Ministry of 
Health; Tel: 34 - 913380836; e-mail: mgomezv@msc.es) and 
Maria Teresa Calvo (Ministry of Agriculture; Tel: 34 - 
913475045; e-mail: tcalvosa@mapya.es) will represent Spain. 
 
2. Calvo said that the GOS is going to coordinate its final 
positions in an inter-ministerial meeting on August 26 in 
advance of an EU meeting on the subject in Brussels on 
September 1.  He added that the GOS and the EU support our 
proposal on staples.  Moroever, labeling and the environment 
should be dealt with in other Codex committees or other 
international bodies as far as the GOS and the EU were 
concerned. Calvo had no information on GOS views with respect 
to developing guidance for the food safety assessment of low 
levels of material derived from transgenic plants. 
 
3. Comment: Embassy's sense is that as Health and Agriculture 
are representing Spain, GOS policies will be science-oriented 
and pragmatic  However, Spain has a history of not rocking 
the boat within the EU unless the issue is of great national 
importance so the EU "consensus" coming out of the September 
1 meeting will shape Spain's views.  We have little sense for 
how active Spain will be in the September 1 meeting in 
Brussels. 
AGUIRRE 

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