GMOs in Mexico

GMOs in Mexico describes market for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Mexico, including policies that allow or ban them.

Mexico's Regulation of GE Corn
In 2009, Mexico reversed a decade-old ban on genetically engineered corn (GE corn), "sparking an outcry from environmentalists, human rights activists, and small-scale farmers who said the move favored the big agribusiness and put their native varieties that have fed the population for thousands of years, at risk." As of 2011, no GE corn was grown commercially in Mexico, although some companies have 'experimental permits' to grow very small amounts of GE corn. In 2011, Monsanto received permission to move forward into a "pilot" stage of development, in which it could grow a one hectare plot of GE corn. Also in 2011, the states of Michoacan and Tlaxcala both banned GE corn from being planted either commercially or in trials.

In a visit to Mexico in 2011, Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food called on Mexico to reinstate its ban on all planting of GE corn, saying that GE corn would Mexico’s seed diversity, which he called “a crucial asset in the face of future threats and unpredictable changes brought about by climate change” and necessary in fighting hunger.


 * ""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."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Biotechnology
 * Genetic Engineering
 * GMO Policies by Country
 * GE Corn
 * Using Hunger to Promote Genetic Engineering

External articles

 * "UN calls for transgenic corn ban," Latinamerican Press, June 30, 2011.
 * Alfredo Acedo, "Monsanto Uses Latest Food Crisis to Push Transgenic Corn in Mexico," America's Program, March 28, 2011.
 * Jeannie Moulton, "Mexico Approves Monsanto for GM Corn Pilot Project," Eat Drink Better, March 15, 2011.