Fiancial Times | October 12, 1999
Genetically modified seeds may threaten the country's biodiversity, write Henry Tricks and Andrea Mandel-Campbell
In Mexico, corn is the stuff of legend. According to Mayan lore, the gods made man out of grain after mud and wood proved unsatisfactory. These "men of maize" first began domesticating corn 9,000 years ago.
While there are an estimated 24,000 genetic strains of corn in Mexico, teosinte, its ancestor, still grows as a stubby wild grass and its varieties are staples in the foods Mexicans fondly refer to as vitamin T: tortillas, tamales, tacos.
But in the cradle of corn, such rich diversity may be under threat. Since January, Greenpeace, the environmental pressure group, has been waging a campaign against the importation of genetically modified corn from the US, seizing samples from ships harboured in the Gulf of Mexico in a bid to show that transgenic crops are sneaking in with lax supervision.
Its activists, denouncing "genetic imperialism", say pest-resistant corn modified by Novartis, the Swiss biotech company, has been blown from railway carriages into the Mexican countryside, with the risk that it could contaminate native species through pollination. It is, says Liza Covantes, a Greenpeace biologist, also turning up in animal feed and processed foods for human consumption with barely any official control.
"It's a time-bomb," she says, estimating that about 25 per cent of Mexico's corn imports this year are genetically modified. "The biggest risk is to biodiversity."
One of Greenpeace's main focuses of attack is the lack of regulation in Mexico. For years, industry experts say, the government has only loosely supervised consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Mexico, falling back on US safeguards that have traditionally been more supportive of the industry than their European counterparts.
However, as the issue becomes more politically charged, even agronomists and biotechnology companies in Mexico have begun lobbying for better supervision.
In June, after a panel of experts demanded greater surveillance of the bioengineering industry, President Ernesto Zedillo launched a two-pronged response.
He created an inter-ministerial commission headed by the agriculture ministry that will establish protocols on imports and domestic consumption. He also set up a scientific council to act as a consultant on genetic engineering. Three months later, the commissions are not yet up and running, officials say, but they are likely to be broadly pro GMO.
"Mexico is a rich source of biodiversity and it is particularly important for us to introduce regulations so there is no damage done," said Romarico Arroyo, the agriculture minister. "But if we don't put genetic engineering to use, it will be difficult for us to compete."
Mexico has already been at the forefront among developing countries in developing transgenic crops. According to a study last year, Mexico, Cuba and China were the first Third World countries to field test a genetically modified virus-resistant potato developed by their own scientists.
All told, Mexico is commercialising 50,000 hectares of genetically modified cotton and is producing 6,000 hectares of transgenic soya, the seeds of which will be sold abroad.
But officials are wary of the potential monopolies of multinational companies that one day hope to sell GM seeds to farmers under international patents. Some 20m Mexicans live off the land, and the peasant custom of saving the best seeds for the following season has ensured the richness of Mexico's biodiversity in corn and other plants. In a country that claims to have 10 per cent of the world's biodiversity, it is feared that commercialised transgenic seeds will force farmers to change habits that have endured for centuries.
