ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO:
Transgenic Cousin in the Birthplace of Corn

Diego Cevallos


MEXICO CITY, (IPS) - With its modified genes, transgenic corn has entered Mexico without permission and without an invitation, mixing with its non-modified relatives, which are thousands of years old and carry a mythological mantle.

Experts wonder if the new variety of maize poses a threat or creates a possibility for the country's salvation from poverty and hunger.

In their search for answers, scientists and specialists gathered in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca this week as part of the evaluation process begun in 2002 by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

Created under the auspices of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), encompassing Canada, Mexico and the United States, the CEC's mandate is ”to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law.”

In June, the CEC is to issue a complete report on genetically modified corn in Mexico.

But it is not yet known if the report will be made public, a decision that is up to the three NAFTA members, according to CEC rules.

”This is a thorny issue that will show just how far the CEC and the governments can go against the pressure of the transnationals that promote transgenic seeds,” Alejandro Calvillo, director of the Mexican office of environmental watchdog Greenpeace, told IPS.

Traces of DNA from genetically modified (GM) corn were found by scientists in Oaxaca cornfields in 2001. Some experts and the transnational corporations that produce and hold the patents to GM seeds at first refuted the findings and tried to play them down, but the results were ultimately confirmed.

It is now known that transgenic maize is present in small fields found in at least eight of Mexico's 32 states, but the new variety does not have a massive presence. The mixing with traditional types of corn occurred despite the Mexican government's 1999 moratorium on commercial planting of the GM crop.

The big question being asked by scientists and laypeople alike is what will be this combination's long-term effects on the environment in general, on native corn in particular, and on the lifestyle and culture that continue to revolve around maize in Mexico?

Corn is more than just a simple plant in Mexico, where it covers 8.5 million hectares of farmland, 60 percent of which belongs to small farmers who plant it for their families' consumption.

Estimated to be some 9,000 years old, maize holds a central place in local culture. According to the pre-Hispanic cultures, the grain -- which was first domesticated in Mexico -- was used by the gods to create the first man on Earth.

Ancient and still widely venerated, it has now been exposed to its transgenic cousin, created in laboratories and released into trade less than a decade ago by U.S.-based corporations.

For Mexico, ”the invasion of the transgenic or 'Frankenstein' maize is an environmental and cultural disaster that must be stopped,” Arturo Rivas, of the National Support Centre for Indigenous Missions, told IPS.

Mexico must immediately halt GM corn imports, say environmentalists and peasant organisations, but President Vicente Fox does not seem to be making any moves in that direction.

In October, the government signed an accord with Canada and the United States that defines imports of agricultural goods as ”non-transgenic” if they contain less than five percent of genetically modified products.

The same agreement establishes that the ”unintentional” presence of transgenics in a shipment does not require labelling that the products ”may contain” genetically modified material.

The text goes much farther than what was agreed in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which entered into force in September 2003 and whose mandate is to regulate ”compliance with the precautionary principle,” the transborder movement of transgenics. But the details of the protocol have yet to be established.

Says Mexican scientist Luis Herrera, considered one of the founders of biogenetics, the introduction of transgenics is irreversible for Mexico and for the world.

What Mexico should do is regulate, utilise and develop its own varieties of genetically modified corn, but at the same to continue promoting traditional plant breeding techniques, he said in a conversation with IPS.

Transgenics are produced by introducing genetic material from other plant or animal species into the organism's DNA as a means, in the case of crops, to create resistance to pests, herbicides and extreme climate, or to improve crop yields.

The patents for GM corn and other transgenic crops grown for commercial purposes belong to a handful of transnationals, who farmers must pay for the seeds and must not save seeds from the subsequent harvest, or they face lawsuits and fines.

But according to the evidence available, the Mexican farmers have not been planting genetically modified maize on purpose.

Experts believe that the pollen from GM corn may have been carried by the wind from nearby experimental fields (which are exempt from the moratorium), or that GM seeds in feed imports from the United States were planted, without the farmers realising what they were.

Fifty-nine percent of the cultivated area in Mexico is planted with corn, producing 19.3 million tonnes of the grain a year. But the domestic demand for corn is much greater.

In 2000 and 2001, Mexico imported five million tonnes of maize from the United States, and around 25 percent of that was transgenic, according to environmental groups. Some of the imported maize goes to farmers through government social programmes, and some is purchased by companies for processing and industrial use.

The viewpoints on the introduction of transgenic corn are diametrically opposed: call it ”contamination”, say environmentalists, call it ”an enriched mixture”, say the transnationals.

Environmental activists warn that transgenics could wipe out Mexico's rich biodiversity and even the way of life of thousands of peasant families, while the producers of the GM seeds argue that they would only enrich native maize varieties and that their environmental impact would be negligible.

There are even discrepancies amongst the United Nations agencies when it comes to this issue.

The U.N. Development Programme states that GM crops should be considered a valid option for fighting world hunger, while its sister agency, the U.N. Environment Programme, recently released a report from its Latin American and Caribbean office that mentions ”transgenic contamination” and advises caution in adopting this technology.

But beyond the controversy, some scientists are concerned that the genetically modified material could mix with the DNA of innumerable species of plants, which could take a toll on Mexico's rich biodiversity.

CEC spokespersons told IPS that their report, in which experts from several countries participated, will take all points of view into account.

Under the CEC rules, the conclusions reached will not be binding in any way, but if the report is disseminated they will surely be used in the ongoing debate between the pro and con sides of the transgenic debate.