Rejection of the USMCA dispute panel's ruling on genetically modified corn, promoted by the US government.
From the CLACSO Working Group on Political Agroecology We strongly express our total rejection of the ruling by the dispute panel of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) against the decree issued by the Mexican government, rejecting the use of genetically modified corn for human consumption and the use of glyphosate for planting in the country.https://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5679405&fecha=13/02/2023#gsc.tab=0The USMCA resolution contravenes the right to healthy and nutritious food enshrined in the Mexican Constitution, the protection of maize in one of its centers of origin and domestication, and the country's food self-sufficiency. It also disrupts the foundations of food culture in one of the world's top five bioculturally megadiverse countries and calls into question the supposed benefits of free trade agreements established during the neoliberal era globally.https://www.sinmaiznohaypais.org/comunicado-cnsmnp-20-de-diciembre-del-2024/The USMCA decision reaffirms that the inclusion of basic foodstuffs in free trade agreements, such as corn, violates the right of countries to define their own food policies.
Over the past 30 years of trade liberalization, Mexico has gone from being an exporter to a net importer of corn. Simultaneously, its population has experienced a decline in health, with increased morbidity from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular hypertension, as well as a significant rise in obesity among adults and children. This is linked to an unbalanced diet characterized by the consumption of ultra-processed foods and junk food, among other factors. In fact, up to 40% of deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic were related to these comorbidities, making Mexico one of the Latin American countries most affected by COVID-19. Paradoxically, one of its most important biocultural legacies from an agrarian-peasant history spanning the last 8,000 years remains corn, along with its family of crops, the milpa (corn-beans-squash and up to a hundred associated crops). This has resulted in an outstanding cuisine recognized worldwide and constitutes the country's food legacy to the entire world.
The USMCA ruling is a result of the power of agribusiness, concentrated in four transnational corporations, a handful of large agribusinesses, and their cronies in Mexico. Its conclusions are far removed from scientific evidence, contrary to the arguments developed by distinguished Mexican scientists in defense of corn as a historical legacy, highlighting the negative effects of genetically modified corn and glyphosate as its counterpart, especially in Mexico as one of the eight original centers of domestication of plants and animals, according to Vavilov's classification (https://www.ceccam.org/node/4149This is why the USMCA ruling is clearly unscientific and reveals that science is not neutral but political. One example is the influence and interference of agribusiness in research processes, including in the USMCA expert panel (https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/963284/Informe_Final_ESP.pdf).
In Mexico it is said Without corn there is no root or countryWe Mexicans eat primarily corn and the products that grow in association with the agricultural system known as the milpa, recognized by international organizations. This system includes other seeds, roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits that have generously contributed to our culinary legacy, a result of the co-evolutionary heritage of humans and other beings. Therefore, to threaten the biocultural diversity of the milpa as a whole is to threaten the dignity of every palate and every way of inhabiting the land.
In light of this, we applaud the consideration made by the current president of Mexico to elevate the prohibition of planting genetically modified corn in Mexican territory to constitutional status. This has been successfully promoted by a class-action lawsuit that has been preventing the planting of GMO corn for ten years. We join in this proclamation and celebrate its acceptance by the legislative majority, hoping that, without partisan distinctions, this constitutional proposal will be implemented.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyd-nbudPi0However, we believe that, in addition to the above, it is necessary to make effective, as indicated by law, the labeling of imported GM corn and of foods that contain it, so that every person in Mexico can make informed decisions and consume their food based on their own choice.
El CLACSO Political Agroecology Working Group We believe it is essential to promote agri-food transitions based on agroecological principles that, in a multifaceted way, ensure healthy, culturally diverse food and restore the artificial divide between producers and consumers. Therefore, we demand the effective promotion of the food guaranteed by the Constitution for all Mexicans; peace in rural territories; and, ultimately, life itself. With the support of a robust group of social and biological scientists, and with evidence built by critical and committed science, combined with the wisdom of our communities, we believe there is no other food future than that promoted by agroecology as inter-knowledge, as a daily practice, and as a social movement. All of this comes at a time of multiple global crises that affect not only Mexicans but every food and life system. In this regard, we hope our proposals will be heard so that the current Mexican government can develop them and deepen agroecological policies, prioritizing those who feed us, and especially children.
January 27, 2025
CLACSO Working Group
Political agroecology
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Group and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
