GMO contamination raises concerns 

Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, who published the study on the contamination of Mexican maize in the Nature magazine, said that "the benefits of these crops don't outweigh the enormous risks to food security". They warned that while some plants are vulnerable to diseases, pests and climate change, other may have natural immunity, but GMOs could destroy this biodiversity.

The discovery of GMO contamination in Mexico was surprising because the Mexican government imposed a moratorium on genetically modified corn in 1998. Researchers could not prove how the contamination happened, but they assume that GM maize, given as food aid, may have been planted. They do not believe that cross-pollination could have happened over long distances.

Mexican authorities have been aware of the contamination for several months. The Mexican National Institute of Ecology in the states of Oaxaca and Puebla found contaminated varieties in 15 of the 22 communities tested, at levels from 3 to 10 per cent.

 

EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, said that the biotech industry does "not condone unapproved uses of biotechnology products because it undermines our ability - and our obligation - to ensure the proper stewardship of products we introduce commercially". EuropaBio stressed that "it is important that the results from the Mexican government analysis be completed before any speculation is made about the potential effects". It added that "while Mexico is home to the ancestor of modern corn, teosinte, the presence of small amounts of biotech varieties in relation to teosinte would be no more significant than the relationship between teosinte and the conventional commercial seeds widely cultivated in Mexico".

EuropaBio stressed that all of the biotech corn products commercially available in Europe, the United States and other geographies have undergone thorough regulatory review for food safety and for environmental impact. "Regulatory authorities throughout the world have found this corn safe for consumption and safe for the environment where they are grown," said EuropaBio.

The Mexican regulatory authorities - the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources - stated publicly that it is likely that at these low levels the traits will naturally disappear from the land-race corn through normal genetic evolution.

The Environmental Defense Fund said the findings show that "large-scale production of genetically engineered crops is going to have an irreversible effect because it is impossible, or virtually impossible, to contain genetic material once it is put into crops that are planted on a wide scale".

Greenpeace called upon the US government to immediately halt their exports of genetically engineered corn to Mexico in order to protect that country's native corn varieties from further contamination. "Contamination from genetically engineered corn to local corn varieties in Mexico could cause their extinction. If this diversity is lost, future food security is at risk," said Dr Doreen Stabinsky, science advisor to Greenpeace.