Greenpeace activists intercept ship carrying contaminated maize to Mexico
Monsanto and the US government have been telling the world that genetically modified crops pose no contamination threat to natural indigenous species. But we have learned from a leaked report that NAFTA disagrees and is recommending steps to avoid a genetic threat to natural maize in Mexico.
When a free-trade organisation like NAFTA starts raising concerns about GM crops, it ought to set some alarm bells ringing. It's like McDonalds saying burgers and chips aren't very good for you.
Surprise - the Bush administration is attempting to suppress the report.
The report, written by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (US, Canada and Mexico) recommends that all genetically modified (GM) maize imports be labelled as such and that all US maize entering Mexico should be milled upon entry, to prevent living seeds from being planted intentionally or accidentally.
The Bush Administration has intervened several times to delay the publication of the report - completed three months ago - and there is still no official date for its publication.
The scandal began in September 2001 when the Mexican government announced that scientists had discovered contamination of indigenous varieties of maize with genetically modified varieties. The likely source of the contamination is imported maize from the US.
Indigenous and local communities in Oaxaca were horrified, and non-governmental environmental organizations in Mexico started a campaign to bring the contamination to the attention of the world.
As the genetic home of maize, Mexico is on the forefront of natural diversity in the crop. There are hundreds of local and wild varieties of Mexican maize, all of which could be marginalised and overtaken by aggressive GM strains. Loss of these varieties would put the world's food security at risk since farmers rely on these genetic resources to create new varieties, especially ones adapted to changing environmental conditions.
One of the first things Mexico did was to request the NAFTA commission look into the matter. The commission began a process to investigate the contamination; possible impacts on human health, communities, and the environment; and eventually to provide recommendations to the three NAFTA governments on how to address the contamination. The commission finished the long-awaited report on the contamination of Mexican maize by US genetically modified maize way back in June.
Their report recognises the environmental risks GM maize poses and could be hugely damaging for the US WTO case against the European Union. No wonder they tried to bury it.
In 2003, the US, Canada and Argentina launched a case against the EU for a de facto moratorium on new approvals on GM varieties in place in Europe since 1998. The commission report is likely to provide strong support for Europe's scientific arguments. It calls attention to the huge gaps in knowledge that exist regarding the impacts of GM maize in Mexico, stating explicitly that risk assessments carried out in the United States are not adequate to determine potential impacts in Mexico.
The report will also clearly have an effect on the current US efforts to send GM maize as food aid. A number of African countries have rejected whole US maize as a potential threat to their environment, and requested only milled maize. The report backs up these demands as it concludes that there is insufficient data on which to conclude safety of transgenic maize for the Mexican environment and recommends milling of maize to reduce these risks.
What Bush doesn't want you to see:
Conclusions from the CEC Mexican Maize report (unoffical English translation)
The CEC report on GE maize contamination in Mexico (Spanish)
Confidential comments from US and Canadian governments on the CEC report.
For more information, download the Greenpeace report: Maize Under Threat - GE Maize Contamination in Mexico (pdf, 148kb)
