GEO Watch | Mexican activists explain the ‘ban’ on GMO corn




Moderator’s Note: We are very pleased and privileged to bring
this report on the situation in Mexico prepared by two of the activists involved
in the lawsuit that recently led to a temporary suspension of the approval of
any new GMO corn plantings in Mexico. Adelita San Vicente Tello is the General Director of Fundación
Semillas de Vida, A.C. and representative of the collective action. René
Sánchez Galindo General Director of Colectivas, A.C. and legal representative
of the collective action.




A wall in Mexico City. Credit: Contacto Gourmet







Mexico stops GM maize with collective action


LEGAL ACTION
REQUIRES SOCIAL MOVEMENT PRESSURE





Adelita San Vicente Tello | René Sánchez Galindo | Mexico City | November 21, 2013


This news has spread all over the country and around the world. Joy has
filled the heart of thousands.


From the cradle of this sacred plant we, the women and men of maize,
reject the introduction of GMOs in our greatest bio-cultural heritage and thus,
we strike a blow to transnational seed industries leaded by Monsanto.


For more than 10 years, a battle for maize has been fought in Mexico: on
one side, indigenous peoples who resume their origin, culture, life and
survival in this plant claim their legitimate right to freely reproduce it;
along these peoples, a wide range of citizens know the risks of genetically
modifying their food staple and understand their commitment to preserve it for
future generations. Against them, we find the greed of the biotechnology
industry who is trying to transform our plant into a strategic goods that will
guarantee profits in the global agribusiness market.


Nevertheless, GMOs have corrupted to gain ground
make progress. Felipe Calderon´s administration illegally granted permits for
experimental and pilot phase sowing of GM maize, on which results have been
concealed. Today, there are 79 new pending applications. The good news is that
all of them have been suspended by a judicial authority. The actual
administration faces the question whether to defend the wealth of native maize
or become Monsanto´s cheap bureaucrat.




The relevance of the news calls for further analysis on its scope and
the way forward:


1. Collective actions are a new instrument in our country as of the 2010
reform to art. 17th of the Constitution, which grants Mexicans the possibility
to pursue legal action on collective rights. Today, secondary legislation opens
the way to file suits representing specific or unspecified communities.


2. This collective action was filed on July 5th, 2013 by a group of 53
citizens including experts in the field, prominent personalities and
celebrities, and 20 organizations of producers, indigenous peoples, beekeepers,
human rights, environmentalists and consumers.


3. The lawsuit requests that judicial tribunals declare that the limits
and restrictions established in the Biosecurity of Genetically Modified
Organisms Law (Ley de Bioseguridad de Organismos Genéticamente Modificados  or LBOGM) are inefficient because there is
scientific evidence of transgenic contamination of native maize in the states
of Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Veracruz, and Guanajuato.


The inefficiency of the limits and restrictions established in the LBOGO
has favoured the infringement of the following human rights: to a healthy
environment; to preservation; to a fair participation; to a sustainable use of
the biological diversity of native maize that will guarantee its access to
future generations; to adequate, nutritious, and sufficient food; to cultural
rights; and to health.


4. Along the lawsuit, a precautionary measure was requested, which was
granted by a Federal Civil Judge (Juez Federal Décimo Segundo de Distrito en
Materia Civil en el DF) who ordered the Secretariat for Agriculture, Livestock,
Rural Development, Fishing and Food (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería,
Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación - Sagarpa), and the Secretariat for Environment
and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales – Semarnat)
a ban, effective immediately, to refrain from activities tending to grant
permits to release genetically modified maize to the environment and suspend
the grant of permits for experimental, pilot and commercial sowing of
genetically modified maize in Mexico..


This precautonary measure prohibits the release of genetically modified
maize within the country´s boundaries until the collective action lawsuit is
settled.


5. The sued transnationals have denied to receive the notifications,
which have resulted to a judicial investigation of their legal addresses. This
response does not affect the ban on the permits, since those obliged to this
ban are Sagarpa and Semarnat. What the businesses gain is a comfortable denial
of the situation while the administration litigates for them.


6. On Monday, October 28 the collectivity was notified that the Federal
Government had appealed against the precautionary measure through Sagarpa and
Semarnat. These appeals lack of judicial foundations and cannot be substantiated since the two secretariats present pseudo-legal
arguments corresponding to a different precautionary measure than that dictated
by the court.


It would seem like the federal authorities were shying away from
debating the substance of the matter, in equal conditions and under judicial
procedures, while in the media both ministers have been clear upon the
importance of a scientific debate.


7. Experience shows us that judicial actions require great social pressure to achieve its goals. Thus, we are inviting everyone to be part of a great party in favour of our maize next November 30 in the main plaza of Mexico City










(Zócalo de la Ciudad de
México) at 12noon where we will celebrate, inform, and show the rich proposals and alternatives to provide all Mexicans with sufficient and healthy food.


8. Millenary maize will make its way through. Actual laws can barely recognize this plant´s relevance, existing long before (and almost for sure long after) the enactment of these same laws.


Now is the time to










“Make Milpa”,



to get together and join our differences and diversities to defend our sacred plant, our countryside, our farmers and all of us, everyday consumers of our maize.




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