Ecobreves – NORTH AMERICA: Transgenic Maize Under Scrutiny

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MEXICO CITY, Mar 1 2004 (IPS) - The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America will hold a meeting Mar. 11 in Mexico of representatives from civil society, government and academia to study the contamination of Mexican maize with genetically modified material. The meeting, to take place in Oaxaca, is one more step in the process begun by the CEC in 2002 with the aim of producing a complete report on transgenic contamination of maize in Mexico, the birthplace of this grain.

The CEC report, to be presented later this year, will show how independent the commission is, or whether it is subject to pressures from business and government, Alejandro Calvillo, director of Greenpeace-Mexico, told Tierramérica.

Several studies have indicated that Mexican corn has already been contaminated by genetic material from transgenic varieties imported from the United States.

The CEC report will cover the effects of this contamination on biodiversity, its social and cultural repercussions and a cost-benefit analysis, among other variables.

According to the norms of the CEC (the environmental arm of the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States), the report may be kept confidential if the three partners so decide.