Fwd: ETC: Maize Rage in Mexico

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ETC group

ETC: Maize Rage in Mexico

 

ETC Group

Genotypes

10 October 2003

www.etcgroup.org

 

Maize Rage in Mexico

GM maize contamination in Mexico - 2 years later

 

Twenty-five months after the first scientific evidence became public, the

Mexican government and the scientific community have acknowledged that Mexico's

traditional maize crop is contaminated with DNA from genetically modified (GM)

maize despite a government prohibition on the planting of GM seeds in Mexico.

Mexico is the centre of origin for maize - one of the world's most important

food crops.

 

Yesterday, peasant farmers and indigenous communities along with civil society

organizations in Mexico publicly released the results of their own testing that

found GM contamination of native maize in at least nine states - far more

serious and widespread than previously assumed. (1) For a detailed report of

their findings see: http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=407 and

http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=408 (The report will soon be

available in English.)

 

No fewer than four government-sponsored studies have been undertaken in Mexico

over the past two years to determine whether or not transgenes are present in

native maize (see details below). Although none of the studies has yet been

published, each study found varying levels of contamination in two or more

states. But acknowledgment of gene flow has not come with a clear plan of action

to address contamination and to prevent it from continuing. Neither is there a

plan to protect vital national and international collections of crop germplasm

stored in gene banks in Mexico and elsewhere.

 

Given the appalling lack of action and follow-through by the Mexican government,

international plant breeding institutes and the multinational Gene Giants, the

true creators and custodians of maize decided to take matters into their own

hands. At a news conference yesterday in Mexico City, indigenous and peasant

farmer communities in Mexico joined with civil society organizations, including

ETC Group, to announce the results of genetic testing of maize grown by

traditional farmers in 138 communities. The results show that contamination has

spread to farmers' fields in nine states, including Chihuahua, Morelos, Durango,

Estado de Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.

 

Of 2,000 maize plants tested, samples from 33 communities in nine Mexican states

tested positive for contamination. In some cases as many as four GM traits, all

patented by multinational Gene Giants, were found in a single plant. The

organizations were especially alarmed to find traces of the insecticidal toxin

(Cry9c), the engineered trait found in StarLink maize (formerly sold by Aventis

CropScience). StarLink was never approved by the US government for human

consumption because of concerns it could trigger allergic reactions. Illegal

traces of StarLink were found in US food products in 2000. Following a massive

recall of tainted food products in the US, Aventis withdrew StarLink from the

market. Apparently, StarLink sought asylum in Mexico.

 

Baldemar Mendoza, an indigenous farmer from Oaxaca, said at yesterday's news

conference that people had come to his community to tell them that they needn't

worry about GM contamination because transgenic crops have been available in

some countries for six or seven years and there is no evidence that GM crops are

harmful to health. " But we have our own evidence, " asserts Mendoza. " We have

10,000 years of evidence that our maize is good for our health. To contaminate

it with transgenics is a crime against all indigenous peoples and farming

communities who have safeguarded maize over millennia for the benefit of

humankind. "

 

The coalition of indigenous communities, farmer and civil society organizations

demanded that the Mexican government make public the results of all studies on

GM contamination, stop all imports of transgenic maize, continue its moratorium

on the cultivation of transgenic maize, and scrap the flawed " biosafety " bill

crafted by biotech proponents, which is now under discussion in Congress.

 

Safe Contamination? At events leading up to today's news conference, many

Mexican government officials and scientists acknowledged contamination, but

insisted that it wasn't a problem.

 

On September 7th Mexico's newly-appointed Minister of the Environment, Alberto

Cárdenas told the Global Biodiversity Forum in Cancún that there is no doubt

that GM contamination in Mexico is real but he insisted there is no harm to

native maize biodiversity or to public health. The Minister offered no specific

information on contamination levels, nor did he provide evidence supporting his

claim that public health and the environment had not been compromised.

 

At a conference held September 29-30 in Mexico City, academics, and government

officials confirmed -and even Gene Giant corporations accepted- that there has

been a " flow " (contamination) of GM traits into traditional maize varieties in

at least two states. The conference, titled " Gene Flow: What Does It Mean for

Biodiversity and Centers of Origin, " was organized by the Pew Initiative on Food

and Biotechnology (PIFB) and the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC).

www.maizegeneflow.org.

 

At the conference, Klaus Amman, Director of the University of Bern's Botanical

Garden (Switzerland), argued that there are no known environmental impacts of

transgenic gene flow. Amman cited data from Novartis (one of the Gene Giants -

now Syngenta) showing that under field conditions genetically engineered Bt

maize posed minimal risk to Monarch butterflies in the United States. Jorge

Soberón, the director of Mexico's National Commission on Biodiversity (CONABIO)

pointed out that a comparison between field conditions in the US and those in

mega-diverse Mexico may not be relevant. He noted that the USA has around 60

butterfly species whereas Mexico has more than 2,000. In the meeting, Soberón

called for a strict application of the precautionary principle.

 

A representative of the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Victor Villalobos,

recently described the GM contamination in Oaxaca as " a natural laboratory " to

study the effects of gene flow, and he complacently urged that the moratorium on

the planting of GM maize be lifted. (2)

 

" It is exasperating that many scientists refused to take action on gene flow for

more than two years, insisting that they required stronger scientific evidence, "

said Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group. " Now those same scientists admit gene flow but

are claiming - in the total absence of scientific proof - that gene flow poses

no threat to biodiversity or to people. Using Mexico and its people as guinea

pigs is good science? "

 

Studies Concur: According to Ezequiel Ezcurra, the director of Mexico's National

Institute of Ecology of the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources,

four government-sponsored studies have been undertaken in the past two years to

determine whether or not transgenes are present in maize in Mexico. Although

none of the studies has yet been published, Ezcurra stated that each study found

varying levels of contamination in two or more states:

 

* The National Institute of Ecology, an agency that operates under Mexico's

Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, conducted an initial study

that was released in September 2001.

* The National Institute of Ecology (INE) and the National Commission for the

Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) jointly sponsored a study that was

conducted by scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

and the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic

Institute (CINVESTAV). The results of this study were announced in December

2002.

* The Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (SAGARPA) conducted a

study that was commissioned by the Intersecretarial Commission for Biosafety and

Genetically Modified Organisms (CIBIOGEM). The results of this study have not

been made public.

* The National Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Research (INIFAP). The

results have not been made public.

 

The studies corroborate the independent findings of two University of California

(Berkeley) researchers who first reported their conclusions in Nature in

September 2001. In an unprecedented move, the editor of Nature later disavowed

the Berkeley scientists' peer-reviewed report in his own journal.

 

Traveling transgenes are a global problem, not one confined to maize in Mexico.

Among others, GM contamination of traditional varieties of cotton in Greece,(3)

canola (rapeseed) in Canada,(4) soy in Italy,(5) papaya in Hawaii have been

reported.(6)

 

International Action Needed: In February 2002 La Via Campesina (the

international organization of small farmers) and several hundred other civil

society organizations worldwide joined forces to call upon the UN Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR (Consultative Group on International

Agricultural Research) to address the issue. Although FAO has expressed concern,

it has only been in touch with CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement

Centre), the CGIAR institute in Mexico, which has global responsibility for

maize breeding and for the world's most important maize gene bank. CGIAR has

refused to take decisive action until they are convinced there is solid

scientific proof of contamination. However, CIMMYT did decide to halt its maize

collection program in the region for fear that it could inadvertently introduce

GM traits into its gene bank, and began to test for the presence of transgenes

in its seed collection.

 

At yesterday's press conference in Mexico City, indigenous people and small

farmers described CIMMYT's failure to acknowledge and take action on the

contamination of traditional maize as " deplorable, " and urged that

responsibility for the CIMMYT gene bank as well as other banks in the CGIAR

network be surrendered to an intergovernmental body such as FAO, under

conditions that will make it more responsive to the concerns of small farmers

and indigenous people. The group also condemned the Convention on Biological

Diversity for its failure to effectively address GM contamination in centers of

genetic diversity.

 

Next Steps:

 

The long-term impacts of GM contamination on crop genetic diversity are not

known. Neither governments nor international institutions have taken action to

stop GM contamination and to protect farmers and indigenous peoples'

livelihoods. In February 2002 hundreds of civil society organizations called for

a moratorium on the shipment of GM seed or grain in countries or regions that

form part of the center of genetic diversity for the species. The communities

and CSOs meeting yesterday in Mexico City repeated demands for a global

moratorium.

 

ETC Group believes that a number of issues urgently require further study. Most

obviously, studies are needed to determine the impact of GM contamination on

traditional maize varieties in Mexico, not only looking at the traits that are

currently contaminating the crop but also consider future introductions that

might include traits for industrial or pharmaceutical compounds. Most

importantly, we need to understand not only how to prevent further contamination

but whether or not it is possible to de-contaminate without further harming

diversity. Peasant farmers throughout the world, those who hold intimate

knowledge of local farming systems and crop diversity, are the only ones capable

of undertaking the task, but must have the support of the international

community in this process. Globally, there is a pressing need to study more

broadly the impacts of gene flow, which are already affecting other crops and

regions. Most urgently, FAO and CGIAR need a specific strategy and procedure

to ensure that gene bank accessions are protected from contamination and that

the vitally important exchange of genetic resources between gene banks and

breeders is not imperiled by concerns about contamination. Because all GM traits

are patented, the intellectual property implications of accidental contamination

and dissemination should also be studied. Until the studies can be completed and

evaluated by farmers' organizations and the international community, existing

national moratoria on GM crops should remain in place. These issues should be

discussed at the next meeting of the FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources

for Food and Agriculture and at the FAO Conference in November.

 

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) siliva -- +52 55 55 632 664

Hope Shand or Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope -- +919

960-5223

Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim -- +44 (0)18652 07818

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc -- +204 453-5259

 

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly RAFI, is an

international civil society organization headquartered in Canada. The ETC group

is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human

rights. www.etcgroup.org. The ETC group is also a member of the Community

Biodiversity Development and Conservation Programme (CBDC). The CBDC is a

collaborative experimental initiative involving civil society organizations and

public research institutions in 14 countries. The CBDC is dedicated to the

exploration of community-directed programmes to strengthen the conservation and

enhancement of agricultural biodiversity. The CBDC website is

www.cbdcprogram.org .

 

 

Endnotes:

(1) The document released yesterday is a collective effort prepared by

indigenous communities and peasant farmers from Oaxaca, Puebla, Chihuahua,

Veracruz and CECCAM - Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano,

CENAMI - Centro Nacional de Apoyo a Misiones Indígenas, Grupo ETC - Grupo de

Acción sobre Erosión, Tecnología y Concentración, CASIFOP - Centro de Análisis

Social, Información y Formación Popular, AJAGI - Asociación Jaliscience de Apoyo

a Grupos Indígenas, UNOSJO - Unión de Organizaciones de la Sierra Juárez de

Oaxaca.

(2) Lourdes Rudino, " Aprueban experimentos con maiz transgenico - Tiene SAGARPA

'laboratorio natural' en Oaxaca, " El Financiero, October 3, 2003.

(3) Dina Kyriakidou, " Greece to further test, destroy any GM cotton crops, " July

4, 2000, Reuters News Service. Available on the Internet:

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7343

(4) See www.percyschmeiser.com

(5) David Brough, " Italy police seize more Monsanto seed in raid, " April 10,

2001, Reuters News Service. Available on the Internet:

http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE2/Italy-Seizes-Monsanto.htm

(6) Greenpeace, " Genetically Engineered (GE) Papaya -- Unknown Plant, " June

2003.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/multimedia/download/1/290394/0/papaya\

_unknown_plant.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

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