Mexico wants to ban glyphosate and imports of GM corn from the US. In response the US has threatened to take action against Mexico under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). But according to a study from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the Laboratory of Analysis in Commerce, Economy and Business (LACEN-UNAM), Mexico cannot be forced to accept GM corn exports from the US. Sharon Anglin, Senior Lawyer, IATP, assured that the section on agricultural biotechnology in the USMCA is clear and does not have enough legal base for the US government to start a trade dispute against Mexico over this issue. According to Anglin, as long as the Mexican government has legitimate concerns about public health or the environment, the ban on GM corn can continue as planned. Anglin explained that said section was written to promote the expansion of biotechnology in agriculture. However, the USMCA does not restrict national policy options. "Our analysis found that, while the USMCA’s agricultural biotechnology provisions provide procedural guidance for government regulators, they lack substantive requirements that provide a basis for overriding Mexico’s permit policies and decisions," Anglin said. Mexico Business News

 

 

It may take longer than originally envisaged for Mexico to wean itself off US GMO corn completely. According to Victor Suárez, the Undersecretary of Food and Competitiveness of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Mexico will not be able to replace all of the corn it imports by 2024, but it still hopes to reduce its purchases from overseas by between 30% and 40%. The country, he said, is advancing “significantly” in its objective of replacing imported GMO corn. That terrifies US Big Ag lobbies. Especially given the lessons such a ban, if effective, could give to other parts of the world. After all, this is about banning not just the cultivation but also the consumption of GMOs. It would send a clear message to other countries in Latin America, one of the biggest markets for GMO crops, that there are alternatives. It may even spark a genuinely green counterrevolution in the US, as farmers abandon GMO varieties in order to maintain a key export market. Given enough time (which Mexico is now offering) and market incentives, many US corn farmers would happily revert to growing non-GMO corn, first for the Mexican market and then perhaps later for the domestic one. After all, it is only really a matter of changing seeds. The problem is that some larger seed companies may not want to produce more non-GMO seeds for growers since they already make most of their money from GMO varieties. Plus, non-GMO seeds do not offer the same juicy proprietary perks as their GMO counterparts. Naked Capitalism

 

 

Researchers looked at birth outcomes downstream from areas of Brazil where GM glyphosate-tolerant soy is grown, focusing on water contamination with glyphosate and infant mortality. They found "a significant deterioration in birth outcomes" for people living downstream from locations that are likely to have increased use of glyphosate. They found that the average increase in glyphosate use in the sample during the 2000-2010 period led to an increase of 5% over the average infant mortality rate. The Review of Economic Studies

 

 

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which deregulates a hypothetical class of GMOs that developers claim could arise from "traditional processes" such as breeding, has passed the House of Lords with only the government's own amendments. Strong concerns about the bill have been expressed directly to the government and peers by individuals and groups including GMWatch. But while some peers have raised questions and criticisms, the government's ministers have ignored or brushed them off. The bill now goes back to the Commons. GMWatch comment on Hansard

 

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