Friday, 11 October 2013 01:10
thenews.com.mx
Gov’t freezes permits for genetically modified crops
BY ROCÍO ZAYAS
The News
The Twelfth Circuit Court in Mexico City ruled on Thursday that
Mexico’s Food Production Secretariat (Sagarpa) and the Natural Resources
and Environmental Secretariat (Semarnat) must abstain from granting
permits for the cultivation of genetically modified corn.
The Sagarpa and Semarnat must also abstain from approving pilot
projects and other experiments that involve genetically modified corn.
This precautionary measure, based on what the court called the risk
of immediate damage to the environment, prevents transnational
corporations like Monsanto and Pioneer from releasing genetically
modified corn into the Mexican countryside, said René Sánchez Galindo,
the lawyer who brought the case before the court.
Sánchez Galindo said that the case was brought before the court
through a class action lawsuit representing 53 academics, farmers and
activists, together with civil organizations.
One of the lawsuit’s signatories, National Association of
Agricultural Merchants (ANEC) Executive Director Víctor Suárez Carrera,
said that farmers would be hurt by the monopolization of seeds through
the use of genetically modified crops. According to Suárez Carrera,
scientists have demonstrated that it’s not possible to contain
genetically modified corn once it has entered an environment, adding
that the progressive accumulation of present and future genetically
modified organisms presents a grave threat to Mexico’s current status as
the world capital of corn biodiversity.
Dr. Raúl Hernández Garciadiego said that this measure will protect
the country as a whole, which is important as Mexico is the birthplace
of domesticated corn.
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