GM Corn growing wild in Mexico

[Guest guest]

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nicola

Friday, November 30, 2001 4:02 AM

GM Corn growing wild in Mexico

 

 

Modified corn genes taint species in the Mexican wild

Proof genetic genie cannot be kept in bottle, scientists say

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http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20011129/810311.html

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Margaret Munro

National Post

 

 

Wayward genes from genetically modified corn that is widely grown in Canada

and the United States are spreading in remote mountainous regions of Mexico.

 

" It's like an epidemic, " says Ignacio Chapela of the University of

California, Berkeley. His team reports in the journal Nature today that up

to

70% of wild Mexican maize now carries transgenes that could only have come

from genetically engineered crops. The transgenes, which scientists borrow

from viruses and bacteria, have been engineered into GM crops.

 

The scientists believe some of the contaminating GM genes were carried into

the mountains by insects and the wind. But people are likely the worst

culprits, said Mr. Chapela, who suspects Mexican farmers have been

unknowingly planting imported GM corn, which is not labelled as such,

alongside the wild corn.

 

The study, sure to refuel debate about GM crops, shows transgenes cannot be

readily contained despite industry and government assurances that the

genetic

genie is under control.

 

" The message that comes out of this is that you are not going to contain

these genes, period, " said Professor Brian Ellis, associate director of the

biotechnology laboratory at the University of B.C. He co-chaired a committee

for the Royal Society of Canada on genetic modified foods that has called

for

tighter control of genetically modified crops and animals.

 

Scientists add foreign genes to crops to boost resistance to pests and

drought, or in come cases, to make them tolerant to chemicals that can kill

weeds. Close to 30 million hectares of GM crops have been grown around the

world, much of them in Canada.

 

Scientists say it is only a matter of time before many transgenes that have

been added to plants spread around the world, incorporating themselves in

the

DNA of non-GM crops. Potatoes, rice and cotton are sure to be affected, Mr.

Chapela said.

 

The prospect is particularly worrisome when one considers some of the crops

being engineered in the lab. One U.S. firm is working on corn with anti-

spermicidal properties, which might have disastrous consequences if it ever

spread to food crops.

 

The transgenes contaminating the Mexican corn pose no health threat. The

concern is that they are polluting the genetic makeup of the most precious

store of wild corn on the planet.

 

" We are dealing with a technology that really steamrolls over our

institutional capacity to respond to it, " Mr. Chapela said. International

and

Mexican safeguards meant to protect the wild corn have failed badly, he

said.

 

Mexican maize is considered an invaluable resource for biologists. Corn

originated in Mexico, and the wild varieties contain an incredibly diverse

collection of wild corn genes. He was surprised to find so much

contamination

in the corn growing in the Mexican mountains.

 

He and graduate student David Quist analyzed native corn from four fields in

Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. They then compared it with maize from Peru, and seed

from wild Mexican corn collected in 1971, before the advent of GM crops.

There was no sign of the GM genes in the corn from Peru or the 1971 seed

collection. But they found low-levels of GM genes in most of the corn cobs

from the Mexican mountains.

 

The Mexican government has confirmed the findings.

 

The scientists suspect most of the contamination can be traced to GM corn

entering Mexico as food. Mexico has a moratorium on the planting of GM corn,

but the country continues to import five to six million tonnes of corn a

year

to feed animals and people, much of which is GM corn that has not been

labelled.

 

Farmers plant some of it without realizing the consequences.

 

Mr. Chapela would like to see a total ban on imports of GM corn into Mexico

and remedial action to flush the transgenes out of the wild maize, by

planting clean wild seed.

 

The hope is that the transgenes will be eliminated.

 

Mr. Ellis thinks it is time to curtail use of GM crops, saying technology is

running ahead of society's ability to control the consequences. " I'm

inclined

to put the brakes on, " he said.

 

 

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