As the US government continues to coddle agriculture giant Monsanto, the Mexican government is standing tall – turning down the company’s Genetically Modified (GMO) corn.
After an 11-year moratorium on GMOs, Mexico had approved a small project with Monsanto and two other companies, but isn’t ready to go further into a full pilot program.
“Corn is a staple food crop in Mexico, intricately intertwined with the country’s cuisine, history, and culture,” notes Beth Buczynski at Care2. “Authorities are concerned that Monsanto’s genetically modified corn will contaminate native species, and could cause both health and environmental issues.”
Small-scale contamination has already happened via black market brokers who import and sell the GMO seeds.
“We have a nationwide survey that shows genetic contamination in Guanajuato, Yucatan, Veracruz and Oaxaca (states). We also know of some large-scale plantings in Chihuahua,” Elena Alvarez-Buylla Roces, a molecular geneticist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told McClatchy news. “There is no possibility of coexistence without contamination,” Alvarez-Buylla said. “One gene can make a large difference. Do we want to run the risk?”
Before commercial cultivation of genetically modified corn can begin in Mexico, two phases have to be completed–an experimental phase that shows the corn actually resists pests or herbicides and behaves like normal corn in other respects, and a “pre-commercial phase” that shows the corn provides economic benefits.
Last fall, the three companies asked for permission to enter the second phase, and Monsanto was the first to receive an answer. Authorities said they needed more information, and the company is appealing.
…The law prohibits the cultivation of genetically modified corn in areas that have been designated centers of origin and diversity for corn, such as the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.
It’s not a total shut-down: The head of Mexico’s inter-agency commission on genetically modified crops says before they can move ahead with a pilot program they want to try a cycle of tiny, strictly-controlled, 2-acre experimental plots.
Mexico has more than 60 varieties of corn, plus wild native plants. All of them could be contaminated by Monsanto’s genes; there’s also the danger that Monsanto’s cheap seeds could drive that diversity out of the marketplace as it has in the US.
Aldo Gonzalez, an indigenous Zapotec engineer who’s at the forefront of protecting native varieties, told McClatchy news,
“With climate change new diseases could occur, and the only place in the world where we can look for existing varieties that might be resistant is in Mexico. These varieties of corn might at some point save humanity.”
Some farmers already are abandoning certain native varieties, unable to make a living harvesting their small plots.
“They get a price penalty for not growing uniform, large volumes of corn that the tortilla manufacturers want,” said Timothy A. Wise, a rural policy expert at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Mexico also imports thousands of tons of cheap American GMO corn a year, mostly as livestock feed. Consider that for a minute… the fact that subsidized, pesticide-ridden GMO corn is so cheap to produce that it’s exported to Mexico. No wonder it’s driven conventional seed off the market.
More on Monsanto and GMO
- End of Organics? Monsanto’s GMO Alfalfa Approved
- Friday, the USDA quietly announced deregulation of Monsanto’s GMO sugarbeets
- The Trouble with Monsanto and GMO – David Suzuki spells it out
- Did the White House pressure USDA to approve GMO alfalfa?
- Stonyfield Farm Takes a Swing at Monsanto (And the OCA)
- Too Much of a Bad Thing: Monsanto Did NOT Buy Blackwater
- Be Nice to Monsanto; They’re having a Bad Year
(Native Mexican corn image 
Some rights reserved by CIMMYT)
About Jeremy Bloom
Pesticide-ridden GMO corn? Really? Are you referring to the Bt protein that has been the staple of organic farming insect control for decades? Also, what about the millions of pounds of insecticides REPLACED by GMO hybrids, particularly the highly toxic soil insecticides for corn rootworm control?
I suggest you couch your arguments solely in the aesthetic terms of maintaining the “cuisine, history and culture” of Mexico, without venturing into misrepresentations about pesticides. GMO corn has clearly replaced a huge swath of the most toxic pesticide use.
Will traditional Mexican varieties “save the planet” as you suggest? You can only hope so. But history tells us that high-yield agriculture and modern genetic practices have tripled and quadrupled agricultural production in the most critical food-producing areas of the world. Millions of lives have been saved from starvation, illness and shortened life spans due to better nutrition. That contrasts sharply with your goal of going back to a more natural, low-tech, and low-yield production system for the benefit of the elite who can afford it, while the rest of the planet suffers.
And did I actually read the words, “Monsanto’s cheap seeds”? You can be assured you are the first person to ever utter those words. It may or may not be relevant to your article, but it surely shows the depth of your ignorance.
Steve, even better than reducing chemicals we can eliminate them by transitioning to natural, organic systems that are healthy for people, our environment and our economy. The change to mono-cropped systems has not helped our health, our environment or our economy.
We need diverse systems for health.
Stacia,
I’m a different Steve, but I feel compelled to respond.
Commercial Organic ag has been worked on for 30+ years. The most detailed study of it by the USDA shows that it is still extremely small (0.5% of US harvested cropland) and substantially less productive than the rest of ag. see http://www.scribd.com/doc/47829728
Organic does not eliminate pesticides. It only reduces them to a list that is not better in terms of toxicity, environmental effects, or efficacy. see
http://redgreenandblue.org/2010/09/27/an-unlikely-pair-heavy-metal-and-organic-produce/
You have bought into a myth. Real people, particularly poor people, are not fed by myths. They are fed by real farmers who grow food responsibly