The Tenth District Court for Civil Matters in the Federal District ruled to suspend the issuance of permits for commercial release of genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico and initiated the trial on this issue. The defendants are the federal government agencies SAGARPA [Secretariat of Agriculture, Stock Breeding, Rural Development Food] and SEMARNAT [Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources], who grant such permits, and companies like Monsanto.
On the first edition of MVS News, representatives of civil organizations and researchers who are pushing for rejection of GM corn explained the precautionary measure thanks to a class action suit. They noted that fifty-three individuals and twenty civil associations initiated the legal action, and they defend suspension of commercial permits [for industrial planting of] corn.
René Sánchez Galindo, from the civil partnership Collectivas, defended their right to access corn's biodiversity, and he argued against conducting an experiment on the environment.
In turn, researcher Antonio Turrent Fernández, president of the Union of Scientists Committed to Society, argued that citizens have a right to food that does no harm and is varied. Turrent pointed out that Mexico "is the center of origin of maize [corn]"; thus, he considered that this food is "the heritage of all of us."
As an example, Turrent Fernández explained that if GM corn goes forward in our country, "any contaminated corn would be owned by the businessman" and not by the one who works it. Monsanto would even be able to claim royalty payments. Turrent pointed out:
"What is at stake is the entire Mexican industry of seed production."He also said that the matter could end up in a negotiation between multinationals and the Mexican government, so that the latter would have to pay royalties.
The researcher explained that few countries eat corn grains directly and in the case of GM "it is associated with chronic sub-clinical damage in the models that have been tested," damage similar to that caused by tobacco.
Adelita San Vicente Tello, director of Fundación Semillas [Seeds Foundation] that is leading the litigation, said that they have carried out different actions. Now with the judge's suspension, one will be able to get to the heart of the conflict and "enter the great debate".
She explained said that in the midst of this is peasant production of the food by [often poor, indigenous and rural] Mexicans:
"The judge says that everything underway is to be suspended."San Vicente Tello questioned whether Mexico, as a leading consumer, truly needs GM corn, or whether those who seek to implement it are motivated by corporate interests, maintaining that:
"All of Europe has rejected these technologies."Last August, Monsanto acknowledged in a letter sent to the Secretary of Agriculture, Enrique Martínez, its
"commitment to continue cooperating with the authorities in the process of obtaining authorization allowing us the commercial use of these seeds."... Spanish original