Seattle, WA
October 11, 2013
An October 10 press release (click here) with Mexico City byline announces the banning
of genetically-engineered corn in Mexico. According to the group that
issued the press release, La Coperacha, a federal judge has ordered
Mexico’s SAGARPA
(Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca, y
Alimentación), which is Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, and SEMARNAT
(Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), which is
equivalent of the EPA, to immediately “suspend all activities involving
the planting of transgenic corn in the country and end the granting of
permission for experimental and pilot commercial plantings”.
The unprecedented ban was granted by the Twelfth Federal District Court
for Civil Matters of Mexico City. Judge Jaime Eduardo Verdugo J. wrote
the opinion and cited “the risk of imminent harm to the environment” as
the basis for the decision. The judge’s ruling also ruled that
multinationals like Monsanto and Pioneer are banned from the release of
transgenic maize in the Mexican countryside” as long as collective
action lawsuits initiated by citizens, farmers, scientists, and civil
society organizations are working their way through the judicial system....
...The class action lawsuit is supported by scientific evidence from studies that have – since 2001 – documented the contamination of Mexico’s native corn varieties by transgenes from GMO corn, principally the varieties introduced by Monsanto’s Roundup ready lines and the herbicide-resistant varieties marketed by Pioneer and Bayer CropScience. The collection of the growing body of scientific research on the introgression of transgenes into Mexico’s native corn genome has been a principal goal and activity of the national campaign, Sin Maíz, No Hay Paíz [Without Corn, There Is No Country].
There is an agricultural revolution ongoing in Argentina. The people are upset about more the GMOs, they are worried about the pesticides, too.
...The class action lawsuit is supported by scientific evidence from studies that have – since 2001 – documented the contamination of Mexico’s native corn varieties by transgenes from GMO corn, principally the varieties introduced by Monsanto’s Roundup ready lines and the herbicide-resistant varieties marketed by Pioneer and Bayer CropScience. The collection of the growing body of scientific research on the introgression of transgenes into Mexico’s native corn genome has been a principal goal and activity of the national campaign, Sin Maíz, No Hay Paíz [Without Corn, There Is No Country].
There is an agricultural revolution ongoing in Argentina. The people are upset about more the GMOs, they are worried about the pesticides, too.
| Written by Marcela Valente | |
| Wednesday, 31 July 2013 16:24 | |
(IPS) - The debate over the reform (click here) of Argentina’s seed law has pitted transnational corporations that make transgenic seeds against social and rural organisations and academics opposed to the expansion of monoculture in defence of biodiversity and food security. Over a year ago, the agriculture ministry said it would present a bill to overhaul a 1973 law on seeds that was modified several times to accommodate the expansion of monoculture and genetically modified seeds since the 1990s. GM soy is now Argentina’s chief export. But the ministry has not yet introduced a bill, although it has two drafts. Argentina’s seeds association, which represents biotech companies, supports the ministry’s efforts to draw up a new law.... ...GM crops threaten native seeds He also said that in the northern province of Salta, the use of GM soy is spreading in small rural communities, threatening the survival of native seeds. “We need a law that promotes respect for the production methods of communities that preserve, improve, breed and trade seeds,” he said. The movement opposed to GM seeds suggests that Argentina could follow the model of the seed laws of Brazil or Bolivia, where GM crops are allowed but native seeds are protected and their use is promoted. Carballo said that with support from government or from international NGOs, in Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru there are “seed guardians” who select and protect seeds in seed banks that are open to the public....  From time immemorial, (click here) indigenous communities in the Western Hemisphere have depended on corn not only as a source of nutrition, but as the center of their cultural traditions and spirituality. This past September, the Yaqui Peoples of Sonora Mexico hosted the inaugural “Indigenous Peoples International Conference on Corn” in the Zapoteca Nation of Oaxaca Mexico. The conference, attended by 48 Indigenous Nations across from North, Central and South America, was created to encourage unity among indigenous communities, restore traditional economies, and ensure the survival of all native varieties of corn.... |
