ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: ACTIVISTS STOP BIO-TECH CORN ...
COMTEX Newswire
Freitag, 10. Dezember 1999 03:20:00
MEXICO CITY, (Dec. 8) IPS - The protests of Greenpeace activists
continue in Mexico even after they successfully obstructed a
shipment of genetically modified corn, imported from the United
States, by chaining themselves to railroad tracks.
At a site where trains leave the eastern seaport of Veracruz
heading for Mexico City, members of the international
environmental group were able to prevent the shipment from moving
yesterday.
The survival of dozens of species of corn, which was grown by
meso-American indigenous peoples as long as 6,000 years ago, is
threatened by the introduction of genetically altered plants into
Mexico, maintains Greenpeace.
The environmental organization wants Mexican authorities to force
the United States into stopping the export of genetically
modified (GM) seeds to this country, explained Greenpeace
spokeswoman Cecilia Navarro.
Greenpeace asserts that corn imports from the United States are
illegal and an attack on public health because this country does
not distinguish between GM and non-GM products.
The group took action after learning that a shipment had arrived
in Mexico several days earlier from the United States containing
40,000 tons of organic corn mixed with GM corn.
The purchase of U.S. corn is illegal as Mexico imported five
million tons of the grain last year, despite the fact that the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed by both
countries and Canada, establishes a quota of just 2.5 million
tons, Navarro told IPS.
By remaining chained to the tracks from 10:00 to 20:00 local time
yesterday, the activists prevented a train carrying corn from the
United States from leaving Veracruz.
With its unconventional actions, Greenpeace has focussed Mexico's
attention on the risks to its corn varieties, which could be
contaminated by a new species produced through genetic
engineering.
The group's victory in Veracruz is just one step in "defending
the sovereignty" of national genetics, affirmed Navarro.
The environmental organization is preparing to pursue a claim
initiated several days ago against the Ministry of Agriculture,
explained the spokeswoman.
Greenpeace accuses the ministry of failing to comply with its
legal responsibility to protect Mexican maize, because it does
not regulate or prevent the entry of the genetically altered
grain into the country.
In response to criticisms of its criteria for handling GM corn,
the Ministry of Agriculture maintained that the product coming
into the country is for human consumption, not for cultivation.
Greenpeace, nevertheless, assures that once the grain enters
Mexico, authorities do not implement "any control over the
product."
The environmentalists also protested at the Health Ministry,
accusing its officials of washing their hands of the issue and
letting all responsibility fall to the ministry of Agriculture.
Mexico's lack of an official policy and of an adequate legal
framework is added to industry's reluctance to promote research
and training, Navarro said.
Greenpeace demands that the Mexican government begin research to
determine if genetically altered corn represents a health risk,
and to study its potential impact on the environment.
The group also calls on the government to apply the precautionary
principle established by the Bio-Safety Protocol, an
international agreement to be signed by dozens of countries in
Montreal, Canada, in January.
The principle establishes that precautionary criteria must be the
foundation for all biological safety decisions, because potential
harm must be anticipated and prevented before it occurs.
In other words, the buying and selling of genetically altered
corn among nations must conform to the Bio-Safety Protocol, not
to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Navarro
asserted.
The Greenpeace activists affirm that, because of the moratorium
declared by the European Union (EU), the United States has been
forced to find other markets for its genetically modified
products, and that it found one in Mexico.
Of the nation's 190 million-hectare surface, 12 percent is
arable. In 1998, 8.4 million hectares were planted with corn, the
staple of the Mexican diet.
Fifteen percent of the area planted with corn used improved
seeds, hybrids of the same species whose genetic improvement is
achieved through conventional means, not genetic engineering,
according to official reports.
Copyright 1999