Vilsack claims Mexico GMO corn ban doesn’t apply to animal feed

Mexico’s plan to ban imports of GMO corn from the U.S. applies to corn used for food but not animal feed, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Vilsack made the claim based on recent talks he had with Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary Victor Villalobos Arambula.

Vilsack says the exemption of feed-grade corn from the ban will help U.S. farmers who rely on Mexico as the leading importer of U.S. corn.

“It’s not going to have as great an impact as it would if it was everything all at once all now,” he said at a virtual event hosted by the National Press Club.

Mexico’s agricultural ministry did not respond to a request to comment on Vilsack’s claim.

At the end of 2020, Mexico’s government published a decree calling for both the phase out of planting and consumption of GMO corn and the end of the use of glyphosate herbicide by 2024.

Victor Suarez, Mexico’s deputy agriculture minister, told Reuters last month the GMO ban covers all food that “will eventually reach human consumption.”

According to the decree, the bans aim to protect Mexico’s food security and sovereignty and the health of the Mexican people.

Suarez also said GMO corn contaminates Mexico’s native corn varieties.

Since the announcement of the decree, Bayer, manufacturer of Roundup glyphosate-based herbicide, and pesticide industry group CropLife America have been working with U.S. officials to pressure Mexico to abandon the bans.

Vilsack is a big supporter of GMO crops, having been selected as the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s Governor of the Year in 2001.

Source: Reuters

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-corn-mexico-idUSKBN2BI32G

Organic & Non-GMO Insights April 2021