“The decision to introduce transgenic crops was reached at high levels of the national government, independently of whether it destroys the natural balance of the most important crop for humanity,” Alejandro Espinosa, a researcher at Mexico’s National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research, complained to IPS. “It was a political decision,” said Espinosa, who has developed more than 30 hybrid species at INIFAP and more than 12 at the public National Autonomous University of Mexico, for production by small companies and distribution at the local level. Espinosa attended the “Let’s Talk about Corn” First National Symposium last week, where farmers and academics opposed to genetically modified organisms debated with representatives of the biotech industry.

After a decade of small-scale experimental planting, biotech multinationals are now free to start commercial development of transgenic corn in Mexico. On Dec. 31 the government’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle Raising, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (Sagarpa) quietly lifted the last barrier to the use of genetically modified organisms for corn sold to consumers. The Missouri-based biotech giant Monsanto will lead the way by sowing 63 hectares in the northern state of Sinaloa, to be followed with genetically modified corn in other northern states: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Sonora.

Tausende von mexikanischen Imkern produzieren Honig für den Export in die Europäische Union. Doch ihre Arbeit wird vom Anbau gentechnisch veränderter Pflanzen bedroht. In Mexiko wachsen GVO-Soja und -Mais. Das jüngste Urteil des EuGH zu Gentechnik besagt, dass Honig entweder in der EU nicht verkehrsfähig ist, enthält er nicht zugelassenen GVO-Pollen. Zugelassener GVO-Pollen muss in der Zutatenliste gekennzeichnet werden. Dies würde den Honig jedoch praktisch unverkäuflich machen, weil die überwiegende Mehrheit der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher Gentechnik in Lebensmitteln ablehnt. Mexiko ist der drittgrößte Honig-Exporteur der Welt und die Diskussion um den Anbau von gentechnisch veränderten Pflanzen zieht in der mexikanischen Gesellschaft immer weitere Kreise. Am Welternährungstag tauschten sich Landwirte, Imker und Wissenschaftler lokaler und überregionaler Organisationen bei einem Forum darüber aus, wie mit der Bedrohung durch den Anbau von GVO-Pflanzen umgegangen werden soll.

Speziell für die Imker auf der Halbinsel Yucatán ist der Anbau ein Problem. Dort läuft ein Pilot-Projekt mit Monsantos gentechnisch veränderter Soja. Eine Kontamination anderer Felder mit gentechnisch verändertem Pollen ist in der flachen Landschaft der Halbinsel kaum zu verhindern.

Genetically modified cotton genes have been found in wild populations for the first time, making it the third plant species — after Brassica and bentgrass — in which transgenes have established in the wild. The discovery was made in Mexico by six Mexican researchers investigating the flow of genes to wild cotton populations of the species Gossypium hirsutum. They found transgenes from cotton that had been modified to resist insects, herbicides or antibiotics in just under a quarter of the 270 wild cotton seeds assessed for that purpose. One of the contaminated seeds came from a wild plant located 755 kilometres away from the nearest GM cotton plantation.

Permits to plant large extensions of genetically modified corn for the first time in Mexico are likely to be approved before the end of the year, said a company lobby group on Monday. Monsanto, DuPont’s Pioneer seed unit and Dow Chemical’s agricultural arm have all applied to expand on tiny experimental plots of GM corn in northern Mexico, said AgroBIO, an organization that represents the biotech companies. The group expects the government will approve more sizable pilot plots for the corn-growing state of Sinaloa by the end of October and in Tamaulipas by November with other states following soon after.

A United Nations food expert urged the Mexican government to resume a moratorium on genetically-modified varieties of corn. [...] ”In the long term, the continuous improvement of landraces by farmers´ practices of saving, re-sowing and exchanging seeds best suited to specific environments is crucial to effective protection against the unpredictable,” said De Schutter, after visiting with Mexican government officials. He added that poor farmers would become gradually dependent on seeds protected by intellectual property rights and that they would be reliant on a product out of their economic reach.

In Mexico, Lavery and James faced a more immediate challenge: how can you test GM mosquitoes in the field without exploiting people in a poor community? How do you make sure they’re properly informed? [...] They held numerous meetings with the community, hired an anthropologist, and spent two years in consultations to buy land for the giant mosquito cages, a process required by local law. They spent time, with local translators in tow, getting to know farmers and nurses. They call it community engagement.

Monsanto has turned the drop in international corn reserves and the havoc wreaked on Mexican corn production by an unexpected cold snap into an argument for speeding up commercial planting of its genetically modified corn in Mexico. The transnational is claiming that its modified seeds are the only solution to scarcity and rising grain prices. At a press conference, the transnational’s Latin American President José Manuel Maduro went even further by blaming restrictions on GM corn production in the country for the high level of post-NAFTA imports of the staple. ”Mexico’s decisión to not move forward [on transgenics] has led to the importation of 10 million tons of corn, a situation that demands a swift response.”

Mexico on Tuesday approved the first pilot program to plant genetically modified corn, a sensitive topic in the country that touts itself as the birthplace of corn and where small farmers worry the high-tech grain may contaminate native varieties. The Agriculture Ministry granted a permit to global biotech seed maker Monsanto to plant no more than 2.47 acres (1 hectare) with genetically modified corn in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

Because of the lack of interest of federal government to protect the large diversity of Mexican maize against the contamination of GM crop, Michoacán State congress passed by a majority the ”Law of Promotion and Protection of Native Maize as Alimentary Patrimony of Michoacán State”, which will allow the protection of 18 of the 59 races of this crop that exist in Mexico. [...] Michoacán’s initiative follows the recent approval of the ”Law of Promotion and Protection of Native Maize as an original patrimony, in constant diversification, and alimentary for Tlaxcala State”.