Friday, October 11, 2013

GM corn given red light by court

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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