GM Corn Banned in Mexico
B. McPherson
GM Corn linked to cancers in independent study
GM corn has been banned in Mexico. Both Pioneer and Monsanto
have been given notice that they are no longer welcome to plant their
transgenic corn in that country. A federal judge has ruled that the GM corn
poses an imminent threat to Mexico’s agriculture and food.
This ruling suspends the planting of transgenic corn seeds.
Herbicide resistant corn varieties have been found to pollute the genetic
makeup of native varieties of corn, the birthplace of that important crop. There
is well founded fear that the genetically altered varieties will damage the
biodiversity of the many varieties of maize(corn) developed over thousands of
years, each adapted to differing soil and climate conditions.
This comes as good news to those who have engaged on a class
action suit to keep the artificial corn varieties from damaging Mexico’s corn.
As more years of GM field crops have been grown, evidence is mounting that
transgenes have been transferred to native varieties of corn.
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. GM Watch
Attitudes towards GM food crops are turning against the big
genotech corporations as more and more problems are coming to light. The
popular herbicide, Roundup, has been shown to have troubling effects on human
health including birth defects and cancers. Superweeds, resistant to numerous
herbicides are an increasing problem and the unwanted spread of pollen to nonGM
fields are but a few.
Europe bans or requires clear labelling of its food to
indicate if GM organisms are present. Other countries have taken steps to ban
the popular defoliants, taking away the incentive to plant herbicide resistant
crops
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