landraces varieties
of mexican maize, oaxaca, mexico. ©
greenpeace/lópez
“
This is
the world's worst case of contamination by
genetically modified material because it
happened in the place of origin of a major
crop. It is confirmed. There is no doubt
about it.
”
Jorge Soberón, Secretary of
Mexico's National Biodiversity Commission,
April 2002.
"
Our seeds, our corn, are the basis
of the foodsovereignty of our communities.
It's more than a food, it's part of what we
consider sacred, of our history, of our
present and future."
Pedro, indigenous community member in
Chihuahua.
Mexico is the center of origin of maize,
where the greatest diversity of this crop
is found. Since GM crops were first
commercialized in the United States , there
have been many concerns in neighboring
Mexico about the possible contamination of
Mexican corn. Corn varieties have been
developed by Indigenous and local farmer
communities over thousands of years, and
corn is one of the key reserves of genetic
material for plant breeding, the basis of
food security. Maize diversity is key for
farmer communities and plant breeders, and
is needed for improving the quality and
productivity of corn crops worldwide.
Mexico also hosts the world's most
important collection of endangered corn
seeds.
In 2001, the area in the US cultivated
with GM corn was over 20 million acres,
constituting over 50 percent of all corn
cultivated in the country. Many cases of
transboundary contamination have shown that
illegal GMOs can easily cross boundaries
and end up in other countries. StarLink
corn for instance ended up contaminating
the food supplies in Japan, South Korea,
and Bolivia .
In 2001, a peer-reviewed article in
Nature reported that traditional maize
varieties in two Mexican states ( Oaxaca
and Puebla ) were contaminated with DNA
from genetically modified maize. It is
illegal to cultivate GM maize in Mexico
.
The suspected source of the
contamination is the United States , since
it exports large quantities of maize for
food and feed purposes to Mexico . It is
believed that Mexican farmers planted US GM
maize intended for food and feed without
knowing it was genetically modified.
Despite the seriousness of the
contamination, there still is no clear plan
of action to address this genetic
pollution, nor to prevent it from
source and more
happening again.
Moreover, monitoring done by civil society
organizations in over 130 local communities
in Mexico found that contamination occurred
in nine states, seven more than the initial
research showed. The organizations also
claim to have identified StarLink GM maize,
which is not authorized as food.
information:
read
more on
this site or
Action Group on Erosion, Technology
and Concentration (ETC):
www.etc.org
