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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2005 
Culture, Science Clash Over Key Crop In Mexico
 Elisabeth Malkin - The New York Times
Capulalpam De Mendez, Mexico - This is the birthplace of maize, where people took thousands of years to domesticate its wild ancestor, where myths describe it as a gift from the gods, and where cooks prepare it in dozens of ways and serve it at every meal.
So the discovery of genetically modified corn in the tiny plots here set off a national furor over what many see as an assault by American agribusiness on the crop that is at the core of Mexico's identity.
"For us, maize is in everything," said Miguel Ramirez, a local teacher and activist. "For us, it's sacred."
Then, radiating distrust of government assurances after a decade of free trade that has all but depopulated the Mexican countryside, he asked a familiar question here: "What is the government doing to make us self-sufficient?"
The answer was a biosecurity law passed by Mexico's congress in February, a step that has divided Mexico's scientists.
The issue has also put Washington on alert, making it wary of any threat to the 5.5 million tons of corn that American farmers export here each year.
After several years of study, a panel of international experts found that the risks to health, the environment and biodiversity from genetically modified corn were very limited.
But after a public forum here, the panel recommended restrictions to imports anyway, citing social and cultural arguments about protecting corn.
The panel recommended that Mexico reduce corn imports, label transgenic corn and mill any genetically modified corn as it enters the country, to prevent local farmers from planting it.
In the end, the Mexican government set aside the milling plan as too expensive but required rules for labeling that remain unclear. Overall imports of American corn, mostly for animal feed, have stayed the same.
But the U.S. response was immediate. It called the report "fundamentally flawed" and said the recommendations did not flow from the panel's own scientific conclusions and undercut provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement. |
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