Has Mexico Banned Genetically Modified Corn?

When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decreed in 2020 that the use of the pesticide glyphosate would be completely phased out in Mexico by 2024, with a parallel plan to ban the import of genetically modified (GMO) corn, Mercedes López and her colleagues in the national civil society campaign “Sin Maíz no Hay País” (meaning “no corn, no country”) were cautiously optimistic. Glyphosate is a pesticide used to maximize yields from genetically modified seeds. Outlawing its use is a critical demand of the movement to protect Mexico´s native corn varieties and the health of the Mexican population.

López, who is director of the non-government organization Vía Orgánica and representative of the “Demanda Colectiva” class action suit to outlaw the planting of GMO corn said that the decree followed some recommendations of the Sin Maiz no Hay Pais campaign. As Mexico is the “cradle of corn” where maize was first domesticated for human consumption, Mexican identity is inseparable from the grain, which is at the heart of both Indigenous and mestizo (mixed Indigenous and Spanish) cultures throughout the country.

The presidential decree focused above all on a gradual decrease in the importation of glyphosate, López explained.

While corn was only mentioned in one article of the decree, it stated that Mexican biosafety authorities would “revoke and refrain from granting” authorizations to companies to release… genetically modified maize seeds into the environment.”

Under the decree, authorities would also refrain from allowing companies to use genetically modified corn in products for human consumption. Within this, the government said it would pursue the total replacement of genetically modified corn products in Mexico by January 31, 2024.

Sin Maíz no Hay País is a decades-long campaign in Mexico to defend traditional and heirloom corn varieties that was galvanized by the discovery in 2001 of genetically modified corn in the fields of Indigenous peasant farmers in the southwestern state of Oaxaca, considered one of the birthplaces of the domesticated corn eaten throughout Mexico and Central America. The campaign was mounted with thousands joining in its heyday, and the Demanda Colectiva won an injunction to suspend the planting of GMO corn in Mexico from a Mexico City judge in 2013, a judgment upheld by Mexico’s Supreme Court in 2020. Both judgments apply an international legal concept called “the precautionary principle,” a decision to take precautions when “scientific evidence about an environmental or human health hazard is uncertain and the stakes are high,” as stated in a European Parliament briefing on the topic. In the case of Mexico and the Demanda Colectiva, applying the precautionary principle allows authorities to reject requests for permits to plant GM crops on the basis that they may damage the health of the Mexican people and environment.

The 2020 decree was immediately challenged by biotechnology and seed giants such as Bayer (now Bayer-Monsanto), who filed for suspension of the decree arguing that the use of glyphosate during the food production process in farming is safe and that a phase-out could be detrimental to the yields of Mexican farmers. After Mexico refused Bayer a permit to plant GMO seeds in 2021, 76 members of the US Congress petitioned President Biden to push President AMLO to reduce the barriers for GMO imports or use the USMCA to force his hand.

In 2023 the 2020 decree was re-issued, with the provisions of the original nullified. As per a government press release announcing the new decree, the 2023 text clarifies that the decree prohibits the use of genetically modified corn for dough and tortillas, that is, “white corn,” as distinct from “yellow corn,” the type that is imported and used for animal feed and other industrial uses including cornstarch and corn syrup.

As the press release concludes, “Mexico reiterates its commitment to comply with the T-MEC, according to which phytosanitary decisions must be based on scientific evidence.” The phytosanitary provisions of the USMCA allow for restrictions on the trade of food products, but the state party seeking restrictions must prove, using scientific evidence, that the health of their population will be negatively affected if the restriction is not applied.

The US exports $5.38 billion worth of corn to Mexico, of which the vast majority is yellow corn.

Still unsatisfied with the wording of the 2023 decree, in August that year the United States opened a dispute panel against Mexico under the United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement (USMCA, formerly NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement), a challenge that Canada as the other party to the USMCA also joined. The US argues that Mexico’s arguments for a phytosanitary exception are not sufficient for it to be exempt from importing GMO corn from the US under the USMCA, and that prohibiting the import of GMO corn is incompatible with USMCA provisions on national treatment and market access for goods.

Mexico´s rebuttal argument cites research of Mexican and international scientists that addresses the cross-pollination of GMO corn grown for animal feed with non-GMO corn, the effects on humans of consuming animals fed by GMO corn, and the impacts of herbicides and insecticides used to grow and store GMO produce on humans. Mexico also argues that it is necessary to defend Indigenous rights and national cultural sovereignty, as corn is at the center of Indigenous cosmology and custom throughout the country and also essential to the mestizo national identity. The panel is due to conclude in November this year.

“We believe that the issuing of the decree of 2023 was due to pressure from the United States and above all from transnational companies against the US government in the run-up to the [2024 US] elections,” said Mercedes López from the Sin Maíz no Hay País campaign.

Jolene Riessen, President of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told Inkstick a ban on imports of yellow corn “would be devastating to our markets and to Mexican markets.”

“With 90% of all corn being GMO, Mexico will have a hard time sourcing non-GMO corn. This in turn will raise costs for feed and food for Mexican consumers.”

“Farmers know the advantages of GMO corn,” added Riessen. These are “less chemicals and insecticides used for production, better grain quality, better drought resistance and better yields, to name a few,” she said.

Riessen also stressed that  “there are no cases proving that GMOs are detrimental to your health.”

“As a farmer Mom, I have been a consumer of GMOs through food products and through meat from animals I have raised that have consumed GMO feed,” she noted.

“I would not feed you something that I would not feed my family or friends. I speak for all farmers, we would not feed you anything that would be detrimental to your health. We are charged with feeding the world and GMO corn helps us get that done.”

The long-standing concern of the campaign to ban GMO corn altogether (i.e. for both tortillas and animal feed/industrial uses) is that even imports of yellow corn can contaminate the food supply and threaten population health and the diversity of Mexico´s native corn breeds.

Following the 2023 decree the government publicized its efforts to develop a GMO-free supply of yellow corn for the country, which would be intended to reduce or eventually eliminate their reliance on imports from the US. However, since this year´s general elections, Mexico´s incoming agriculture minister has said the new government will be dropping the plan and instead focus on maintaining self-sufficiency in white corn. President-elect Sheinbaum has also appointed Altagracia Gómez, president of the Minsa group which is the second-largest producer of corn flour for making tortillas, as an ambassador for business development in the country. Gómez applauded the 2023 decree, saying it was appropriate that it was drafted in such a way that glyphosate and GMO yellow corn would not be banned until there was a substitute.

As Mexico is the “cradle of corn” where maize was first domesticated for human consumption, Mexican identity is inseparable from the grain, which is at the heart of both Indigenous and mestizo (mixed Indigenous and Spanish) cultures throughout the country.

Mercedes López said she and her colleagues are concerned about the incoming government abandoning the plan to pursue self-sufficiency in non-GMO yellow corn. López also noted that there are many US farmers who would be prepared to supply Mexico with non-GMO corn.

Ken Roseboro of the Iowa-based Organic and Non-GMO Report confirmed with Inkstick that there are many such farmers that he has spoken to.

“It’s just a matter of getting a signal from the marketplace,”  he said. ”US grain suppliers and farmers and seed companies would respond to it.”

As it stands, Mexico has, with the apparent support of the industrialized tortilla flour sector, banned the use of GMO white corn in making tortilla dough. The government has indicated that it has an intention to ban glyphosate and all types of GMO corn seeds and products, but has removed previously established deadlines to phase both out of use or import, and it has not established another deadline. Mexico also appears to be abandoning a national program to develop a domestic supply of non-GMO yellow corn in favor of continuing to develop the supply of non-GMO white corn, which is already more than sufficient according to the 2023 decree.

Certainly if the intention of the Mexican government was to intervene in or alter US market production and trade patterns, it appears they will remain undisturbed. The USMCA panel will hear more arguments in September and report in November.

As the AMLO and incoming Sheinbaum governments have moved policy on banning GMO corn at an even further distance from the demands of the Sin Maíz no Hay País campaign Mercedes López said she and her colleagues in Mexico will continue their work to promote the value of non-GMO corn.

Meanwhile, the fight continues. Last week, a commission of the lower house of Mexico’s congress approved a constitutional reform driven by President AMLO as a part of a package of reforms to laws pertaining to the environment  to “make maize cultivation free of GMOs and any other genetic modification.” The proposal will pass to the full lower house for discussion, and if passed will likely face similar pushback from international business.

As well as the specific campaigns to ban imports of GMO yellow corn and realize the precautionary principle in Mexican laws, López said they are working to recover industrial lands to replace them with traditional agroecological farming, boost organic corn production by peasant farmers and work with actors across the ecosystem on projects to support rainwater collection and the milpas as climate change continues to alter the countryside, so that “Mexico continues as a center of origin and permanent diversification” of the ancient grain.

Tags: corn, yields, imports, Glyphosate, consumption, Mexico, genetically modified corn, genetically modified seed