Mexico Ultimately Bans the Use of GMO Corn and Monsanto’s Glyphosate Weed Killer

Food Renegade

Organic food producers all over the world are happy to hear about the bold move Mexico made on banning GMO corn and Monsanto’s glyphosate weed killer. In today’s day and age, it’s all about taking the healthy route.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the bold move last New Year. He wanted to ring in the new age with a new decree – an end to glyphosate. This chemical is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s “roundup” pesticides.

However, this isn’t the only move the president made. He also made another order requesting that the country slowly phase out the use of genetically modified corn in the food industry. This aim for this move, that needed to be fully implemented by January 2024, was to go for something organic, something healthier for the consumers.

The decision made has been praised by happy organic food producers and environmental, health, and social justice advocates. For them, this was the perfect way to preserve Mexico’s native corn crops, national heritage, and food sovereignty. Multinational food corporations have posed a threat to the quality of their crops for years now, and they feel that it was high time something better had to happen.


By the end of December 2020, the Mexican government published an official decree that stated how federal biosecurity authorities would “revoke and refrain from granting permits for the release of genetically modified corn seeds into the environment.” This was a report made by the Reforma news agency. The said decree noted was made after months of unsuccessful pushback from lobbyist groups who represented the large food industries. The lobbyists had one goal, and that was to “contribute to food security and sovereignty” and protect “native corn, cornfields, bio-cultural wealth, farming communities, gastronomic heritage and the health of Mexicans.”

President Lopez Obrador, or otherwise known as AMLO, had made a promise to preserve native corn varieties from the threats made by the use of GMO corn. Under his guidance and leadership, the government of Mexico had made several initiatives in the recent months to protect the over 60 types of corn developed with the use of traditional and indigenous agricultural methods. And by law, these methods are considered to be a an integral part of the country’s national food and cultural heritage.

Western Producer

The indigenous people in the Mesoamerican region cultivated the first varieties of corn thousands of years ago. However, that had changed greatly and blame should be placed on multinational corporations who flooded the market with different varieties of corn, all of which had been genetically modified. The modifications were made originally to get rid of infestation problems and to cope with untimely climate conditions such as drought.

The government also made an order to remove GMO corn imports. These made use of the chemical glyphosate – the active ingredient in Bayer-Monsanto’s weedkiller, Roundup. This was a great start and while a complete ban on the chemical isn’t doable yet at the moment, the future looks hopeful. At the moment, there is major pushback from Big Ag lobbyists. They had wanted federal agencies to immediately stop purchasing, using, distributing, promoting and importing glyphosate or agrochemicals that contain it as an active ingredient.”  Right now, the activists say that the country must use “culturally appropriate” alternatives that contain low-toxicity agrochemicals and organic products.


Opponents against the use of genetically modified crops have praised the ban. Homero Blas, the director of the Mexican Society of Organic Producers says, “It’s a great victory.” His group is one of many civil society organizations. Many of them put the blame on GMO crops for contaminating the native, ancient varieties of corn. They say that the common use of dangerous pesticides endangers the health of both producers and consumers. At the same time, these also compromise Mexico’s biodiversity.

On the other side of the argument, GMO advocates such as the National Agricultural Council (CAN) say that by disallowing GMO corn cultivation, the decision will harm farmers and curbing imports will harm the food chain. CNA spokeswoman Laura Tamayo, regional director for the German multinational Bayer AG, the parent company to agro-chemical subsidiary Monsanto says, “The lack of access to production options puts us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors, such as corn farmers in the United States.” 

Glyphosate has been an issue when it comes to health and safety. Numerous countries have questioned its use. It has also been the focus of big lawsuits filed in the U.S. Many believe this to have deadly carcinogenic effects, particularly the herbicide Roundup, which Monsanto introduced in the market in 1974. In July of last year, Bayer paid $10.9 billion to settle the almost 100,000 lawsuits. These complaints were filed because many claimed that the chemical was the culprit behind a type of blood cancer.

 

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