Mexico is waiting for the United States to demonstrate that persistent consumption over the years of transgenic corn is safe for Mexicans, the undersecretary of Agriculture said on Wednesday, in the midst of a dispute between both countries over the grain trade. .
Mexico argued that there is science that proves that transgenic corn and the herbicide glyphosate are harmful to human health and that its decree – modified in 2023 – to prohibit this type of grain for human consumption is within its sovereign right, according to its argument before a panel of the North American trade agreement, USMCA.
The document was dated January 2024 but was released on Tuesday by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-governmental organization.
The Undersecretary of Agriculture, Víctor Suárez, said that it is now up to the United States to demonstrate that transgenic corn does not harm the Mexican population, which consumes a greater amount of corn than many countries through basic foods of the daily diet such as nixtamalized dough and the tortilla.
“We are waiting for the United States to present that scientific evidence,” Suárez told Reuters regarding the studies requested to evaluate the safety of genetically modified cereal.
“But to this day we have not seen any scientific studies that the United States and companies have presented on the safety of continued consumption over years,” he added. “Therefore, there is no scientific basis for the United States and companies to claim that their corn is safe,” he stressed.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson referred Reuters to Washington’s position that Mexico’s approach to biotechnology is not based on science, in response to a request for comment.
A senior official at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) told Reuters that “scientific authorities, including in Mexico, have consistently found that biotech products like corn are safe over a period of decades”, in response to what Suárez said.
Genetically modified corn is widely used for livestock feed around the world, although some consumers are wary of consuming genetically modified products in general. The trade dispute with Mexico could threaten U.S. corn sales at a time when low demand for the grain and falling prices are hurting farmers.
Companies like Bayer have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent decades developing genetically modified crops and have defended the safety of genetically modified foods sold around the world.
Mexico’s written response cited studies it said showed links between GM corn consumption and glyphosate exposure to liver inflammation in people and impacts on immune response in animals, noting that it considers the health risk human being is “extremely serious.
In August, the United States requested a dispute settlement panel within the framework of the USMCA over Mexico’s decree prohibiting genetically modified corn for human consumption, specifically for use in flour for tortillas.
The decree allows the use of transgenic yellow corn for animal consumption, which represents most of the almost $5.9 billion that Mexico imports annually in US corn.
Washington has insisted that Mexico’s decree banning imports of genetically modified corn for tortillas is not based on science and violates agreements in the USMCA, in place since 2020.
“There is no impact on trade,” said Suárez, adding that imports of corn from the United States to Mexico have increased in recent years. “It is pure ideology behind a model of food dependency,” she added.
In its written response, Mexico argued that a specific deadline has not been established for the total replacement of genetically modified corn, in accordance with what was proposed by the decree, so it cannot be an argument about its possible commercial impact in the panel of controversies.
“It’s a strategic goal,” Suárez said. “How the United States would like to have energy sovereignty and energy self-sufficiency,” he added.
The United States is expected to respond to Mexico’s response.
2024-03-07 01:41:09
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