We the undersigned civil society organizations are appalled at the decision of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to sponsor a technical conference on agricultural biotechnology [...] taking place as the Mexican government moves to introduce genetically engineered maize in field trials, threatening the center of origin of maize and its most important center of diversity with irreversible contamination, a move being fought vocally and vigorously by Mexican civil society, indigenous peoples, campesinos, and all those who stand in defense of maize and its history in Mexico.