| 08/June/23 | The US assault on Mexico’s food sovereignty On 2 June, the US government escalated its conflict with Mexico over that country’s restrictions on GM corn, initiating the formal dispute-resolution process under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It is only the latest in a decades-long US assault on Mexico’s food sovereignty using the blunt instrument of a trade agreement that has inundated Mexico with cheap corn, wheat, and other staples, undermining Mexico’s ability to produce its own food. With the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador showing no signs of backing down, the conflict may well test the extent to which a major exporter can use a trade agreement to force a sovereign nation to abandon measures it deems necessary to protect public health and the environment. The measures in question are those contained in the Mexican president’s decree, announced in late 2020 and updated in February 2023, to ban the cultivation of GM corn, phase out the use of the herbicide glyphosate by 2024, and prohibit the use of GM corn in tortillas and cornflour. The stated goals were to protect public health and the environment, particularly the rich biodiversity of native corn that can be compromised by uncontrolled pollination from GM corn plants. IPS New GM techniques: Time to shift to evidence-based decision making for sustainable food systems and nature No less than 340 organisations (including GMWatch) and companies have written to vice president Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, saying that is it time to shift to evidence-based decision making for sustainable food systems and nature. The European Commission is proposing to deregulate new GMOs on the basis of unproven GMO industry claims that new GMOs will enable reduced pesticide use and greater sustainability. The organisations state that keeping new GMOs regulated as GMOs “will minimise potential negative impacts on nature, human and animal health and will uphold the precautionary principle and consumers and farmers’ right to information as key political and social achievements of the EU". Greenpeace and others We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org Profiles: http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/GM_Watch:_Portal Twitter: http://twitter.com/GMWatch Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/GMWatch/276951472985?ref=nf |
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