NAFTA panel says U.S. GM corn is invading Mexico
A panel of scientists convened by NAFTA at the request of Mexican farmers and officials has concluded that genetically modified corn grown in the U.S., where it is legal, is crossing the border and contaminating crops in Mexico, where it is not, and that the contamination constitutes a threat that needs to be addressed. (It is legal to use GM corn for food in Mexico, but not to grow it.) “How would Americans feel if we started getting living transgenic seeds that had been judged to be safe by the Cuban government but not the American government?” asked Norman C. Ellstrand, a panel member and a geneticist at the University of California at Riverside. The report includes a series of recommendations for stopping the illegal corn migration. The U.S. EPA and the U.S. Trade Representative issued a joint statement calling the report unscientific and broadly rejecting the recommendations, basically saying that Mexico should get over it.
