Mexico Bans Imports of GMO Corn, Glyphosate
Published: Friday, January 22, 2021
The repercussions from Mexico's newly imposed ban of genetically modified corn imports and the controversial herbicide glyphosate over the next three years remain to be felt, but the impact could be significant.
The United States exports more corn to Mexico than any other nation. Twenty-five percent of American corn is shipped abroad and 4 percent of that amount goes south of the border. Mexico is the world's second largest importer of GMO corn and prior to this action imposed few restrictions on it.
Citing food security, sovereignty and the protection of "native corn, cornfields, biocultural wealth, farming communities, gastronomic heritage and the health of Mexicans," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued the decree on Dec. 31.
However, the order appears to apply to the importation of GMO corn for human consumption, and Mexico grows its own white corn used to produce tortillas, a mainstay of the Mexican diet.
Whether the ban will apply to the yellow corn Mexico imports for livestock feed was to be clarified sometime this month.
Mexico's corn imports have gradually increased in recent years, and in 2019 purchased $2.7 billion worth of U.S. corn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Genetically modified varieties are used to produce 90 percent of American corn.
Mirroring Obrador's calls for his country's movement toward food production self-sufficiency, the decree states that Mexico will revoke permits and refrain from granting new ones "for the release of genetically modified corn seeds into the environment."
The ban has been met with pushback from Mexico's livestock industry, which is urging the government to reconsider the decision.
"This decree is completely divorced from reality," Jose Cacho, the vice president of National Agriculture Council (CNA), Mexico's largest ag lobby, told Reuters news service.
According to the Reuters story, GMO corn is integral to Mexican supply chain that supports the country's growing livestock sector. In addition to beef fed GMO corn, the ban could eventually outlaw various products consumed by Mexicans, such as ketchup and other condiments and sauces.
The order puts an immediate stop to the usage of glyphosate by governmental entities and seeks to phase it out nationally by Jan. 31, 2024. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in products such as Roundup and widely used to kill weeds in the U.S.
The decree's backers claim it is needed to protect native corn strains from being contaminated by GMO seed while citing evidence of human health and environmental concerns related to glyphosate.
Obrador blocked a 1,000-ton shipment of the herbicide from entering the country in 2019 and Mexico also stopped issuing new permits for glyphosate imports later that year.
"We do not use glyphosate on our crops, but we have been the victims of external contamination by this substance anyway," Homero Blas Bustamante, president of Mexico's Organic Producers' Society, told the Associated Press in December. "This has caused economic losses for organic producers, mainly of coffee and honey."
Bustamante reported is called the decree "a huge victory."
Environmentalists assert that glyphosate is responsible for the contributing to the decline of insect pollinators such a bees, and has been linked to cancer in humans.
Mexican farmers, who rely on glyphosate to grow crops and have voiced their disapproval of the ban, have three years to find a substitute. The decree calls for farmers to use "culturally appropriate" substitutes such as organic treatments and low-toxicity agrochemicals.
Critics claim the glyphosate ban will drop yields by 30 to 45 percent and make Mexico even more dependent on imports in the long run, a contention disputed by government officials.
Bayer, which in 2018 purchased Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, has contested several lawsuits in the United States.
"The lack of access to production options puts us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors, such as corn farmers in the United States," CNA spokeswoman Laura Tamayo. "On the other hand, the import of genetically modified grain from the U.S. is essential for many products in the agrifood chain."
Tamayo is also the regional corporate director for Bayer, which manufactures Roundup and GMO corn designed to withstand applications of Roundup.
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