Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador recently indicated that he may be softening his stance on a planned ban of GMO corn due to pressure from the U.S. government.
President López Obrador recently said that he’s considering allowing imports of GMO yellow corn for livestock feed. He acknowledged foreign pressure at a recent news conference.
“Yes, there is pressure from foreign companies, from foreign governments,” he said. “We are looking at yellow corn for animal feed.”
Eleven days earlier, President López Obrador had said: “There is now a supposed threat, whose veracity we will have to confirm, from a Republican senator who stated that if we do not buy yellow corn, Mexico would be sued or that the law on transgenics would be reviewed. Well, with all due respect, they cannot do that, for we are a free, sovereign country.”
President López Obrador is referring to a letter written by Iowa senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley to the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The letter arrogantly describes President Lopez Obrador’s 2020 decree banning imports of GMO corn into Mexico as a “non-starter.” The letter also paints a dire picture of the impact on U.S. farmers if the ban is initiated. However, some U.S. farmers and grain suppliers said they could easily supply Mexico’s demand for non-GMO corn.
In December 2020, President Lopez Obrador issued a decree calling for bans on controversial glyphosate herbicide and imports of GMO corn in the country by January 31, 2024.
Vice Agriculture Minister Victor Suárez said the main reasons for Mexico’s bans are growing concerns about the safety of glyphosate and GMO contamination threats to Mexico’s staple and sacred crop—corn.
Source: Bloomberg Law
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Organic & Non-GMO Insights December 2022
