Corporate interests continue to rule environmental and economic policies, the latest example being a U.S.-initiated trade war that threatens the sovereignty of Mexico in its effort to protect health and the environment with the country's ban on imported genetically engineered (GE or GM) corn and the use of the deadly herbicide glyphosate. Mexico has already announced a delay in the planned April 1 ban on the importation, production, distribution, and use of glyphosate. This is all taking place with pressure from the United States government and U.S. corporations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the trade agreement that replaced the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020. This is all happening despite reports that the Biden administration is seeking to “tackle corporate abuses,” apparently limited to tax reform and encouraging competition.
Mexico's 2023 decision to stop importation of GE corn into its country is examined in a report by CBAN, which highlights the scientific rationale underpinning Mexico's decision to “safeguard the integrity of native corn from GM contamination and to protect human health.” Mexico's decision is meant to “protect the rights to health and a healthy environment, native corn, the milpa, biocultural wealth, peasant communities and gastronomic heritage, as well as to ensure a nutritious, sufficient and quality diet.” The phase-out of GE corn imports into Mexico was immediately challenged by the U.S. and Canadian governments as a trade violation under USMCA. In August 2023, the U.S. Trade Representative set up a dispute settlement panel under USMCA to stop Mexico from going forward with its ban. So far, no public update from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been released.
Within Mexico, there is over a decade of judicial and executive actions against the spread of GE crops, as well as the use of toxic petrochemical pesticides. In 2013, a judge in Mexico issued an injunction against the planting and selling of GE corn seed, effective immediately, within the country's borders. The decision came nearly two years after the Mexican government temporarily rejected the expansion of GE corn testing, citing the need for more research and prohibited agrichemical biotech companies, including Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Syngenta, PHI Mexico, and Dow AgroSciences, from planting or selling GE corn seed in Mexico. Then in 2020, Mexico announced the phaseout of glyphosate from use or importation into the country by 2024, joining other nations that have issued bans, including Germany, Luxembourg, and Vietnam.
With such a history, why challenge this action, which affects only a small proportion of corn—white corn used for human consumption, as opposed to yellow feed corn or seed corn? Under the USMCA, “[E]ach Party has the right to adopt measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, called Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, and is clear that such measures should be “based on scientific principles.” The GE/chemical industry intervenes whenever decisions are published finding that GE crops or the chemical on which they depend are harmful, often leading to U.S. government and corporate agribusiness pressure on other governments when they move to ban glyphosate use or advance restrictions on genetically engineered or modified crops. When U.S. government agencies, such as USDA, EPA, and FDA, have bought the line of corporations—many linked to those agencies through the revolving door—the fingerprints of those corporations are all over policies, including labeling, agriculture policy, pesticide registration, food tolerances, and foreign policy.
In fact, in deciding to ban GE corn, Mexico has established a scientific basis for its decision. The government hosts a database of scientific studies that document the health impacts on insects, pollinators, and animals fed GE corn, as well as the adverse health impacts of glyphosate on humans. In addition to herbicide-tolerant GE crops, the CBAN report states, “Most GM corn plants are genetically modified to kill insect pests. The GM plants express a toxin from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that is known to harm the guts of specific types of insects but not others. Farmers have long used Bt as a spray to kill pests but the Bt toxins in GM crops are different from this natural Bt in structure, function, and biological effects.” The report continues, “In fact, peer-reviewed studies across the scientific literature continue to find that Bt toxins in GM plants can harm insects (spiders, wasps, ladybugs, and lacewings, for example) that are not the intended targets.”
Message: I am writing to ask you to please withdraw U.S. opposition to Mexico's ban on imported GE corn. Despite reports that the administration seeks to “tackle corporate abuses,” it appears limited to tax reform and encouraging competition, while corporate interests continue to override existential health and environmental concerns. The attempt to stop Mexico's ban is a case in point. Mexico's decision is meant to “protect the rights to health and a healthy environment, native corn, the milpa, biocultural wealth, peasant communities and gastronomic heritage, as well as to ensure a nutritious, sufficient and quality diet.” The U.S. immediately challenged the phase-out of GE corn imports as a trade violation under USMCA. Over the last decade, Mexico has taken judicial and executive actions against the spread of GE crops and the use of toxic petrochemical pesticides, from an injunction two years after prohibiting agrichemical biotech companies from planting or selling GE corn seed to announcing a glyphosate phaseout by 2024. With such a history, why challenge this action, which affects only a small proportion of corn—white corn used for human consumption, as opposed to yellow feed corn or seed corn? Under USMCA, “[E]ach Party has the right to adopt measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, called Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, and is clear that such measures should be “based on scientific principles.” Mexico's decision has a scientific basis—most GE corn plants are genetically modified to kill insect pests via a toxin from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that differs from its natural form and can harm nontarget arthropods. The industry often challenges decisions finding that GE crops (or the chemical they depend on) are harmful, often leading to U.S. government and corporate agribusiness to pressure other governments. Please do not continue the cycle and immediately cease U.S. opposition. Thank you.
>>Tell the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Secretary of State to withdraw opposition to Mexico's ban on imported GE corn.
The targets for this Action are the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, with an option to send a message to the Office of the President of the United States.
Thank you for your active participation and engagement!