Gene-altered Culture?

Transgenic corn battles Madre Maiz for Mexico's heart and soul.

CORN HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MEXICO'S DIETS AND SOULS; it's linked with the birth of the nation's civilization. So when activists in Veracruz last spring attacked a U.S. cargo ship carrying gene-altered corn, their protest had resonance throughout the country. "We can't risk a resource that has been in Mexico for 9,000 years," says Liza Covantes, a member of Greenpeace-Mexico.

Scores of environmental activists unfurled a giant banner screaming "Stop Genetic Imperialism" and then spray-painted the ship's bow with "No Bt Maize." The protestors were angry that gene-altered corn created by Swiss multinational Novartis AG was included among the cargo's 10,000 tons of corn. Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a bacterium that is inserted into a plant's genetic makeup so it develops a toxin to resist insects.

For centuries, corn has been a basic food staple and a result of traditional methods of crossbreeding and conservation. Today there are some 300 varieties in Mexico and corn is considered by many of the nation's indigenous peoples to be the sacred 'Madre Maiz.' "Many major social, religious and agricultural historical events are equated with the growth cycles of corn," says historian Enrique Florescano.

As a neighbor and major trading partner of the United States, the world's leading producer of gene-altered crops, Mexico began exporting and importing transgenic products in 1996. The nation now commercializes transgenic cotton, soybeans and tomatoes and has experimental plots of corn, canola, squash, wheat, cantaloupe, potatoes and alfalfa.

Environmentalists believe it could accelerate the evolution of resistant insects, harm consumer health and, perhaps most important, alter corn at its center of origin forever.

But there had been little public outcry as in Europe until it became publicly known that transgenic corn comprised 25% of the more than five million tons of U.S. corn imported in 1999. Bumper crop. In defense of government policy, Jorge Larson, an adviser to the official National Council on Biodiversity, argues that corn imports pose no threat to local types since they are not planted but destined for food products and animal feed.

And large farming interests hail transgenic crops as the solution to Mexico's perennial problem of low yield and high loss to insects and disease. Jorge Kondo, head of the National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research, believes gene-altered seeds will give Mexican farmers a badly needed competitive advantage. Most recently, the National Union of Cotton Producers asked the federal government for permission to exceed the current 40,000 hectares of transgenic cotton now under cultivation in Mexico.

Not surprisingly, biotechnology has also created new possibilities for researchers and business. A leading global "gene giant" is Mexican billionaire Alfonso Romo's firm Savia. It began operation in 1999 after a series of strategic buy-ups aimed at integrating agro-biotechnology research with seed and fresh produce firms. Between 1994-1996, Romo invested US$480 million to purchase two major seed companies, leading to the formation of a subsidiary company called Seminis.

Despite the economic benefits, the Committee for Protection of Our Natural and Cultural Heritage, a non-governmental organization, has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming Bt corn and other transgenic crops threaten Mexico's cultural and biological diversity. The lawsuit demands an immediate injunction against corn imports pending a full public debate and reevaluation of current policy that permits experimental plots of gene-altered crops.

Genetically altered corn-farming would force farmers to abandon their traditions, critics claim. Ana de Ita of the Mexican Center for Rural Change Studies points out that the sharing and stockpiling of seeds are customary among Mexican small farmers. If gene-altered seeds rule the fields, that practice will have to end. For example, Monsanto Corp. requires U.S. farmers to sign patent agreements not to save seeds from one harvest to the next.

"Some say foreign corn is better because the ear is larger, but what will happen when our corn gives out?" asked Alicia Blanco Prieto, a farmer from Mazaltan Villa de Flores, a Mazateca Indian village located in southern Oaxaca state. "We cant afford to buy seeds every year."

Such fears have caused the National Union of Regional Autonomous Peasant Organizations to call for a moratorium on commercialization of all transgenic crops pending an environmental impact study. Since there are nearly three million small farmers who produce 20% of Mexico's commercial corn crop, the union has asked for public participation in decision-making, information about where genetically modified crops are planted, and an end to all experimental Bt corn plots.

Stunted Nafta symbol. The release of any gene-altered plant is a potential threat to the environment since the seed of a modified living organism has the capacity to reproduce inadvertently if crossed with native varieties, ecologists say. They claim this could theoretically occur at an experimental site or at a small farm owned by migrant workers returning from the United States with a few test kernels.

Moreover, they cite recent studies at Cornell University that showed that pollen from Bt corn, when eaten by larvae of Monarch butterflies, killed nearly half and stunted the rest. Monarchs have special importance in Mexico, where thousands of tourists flock each year to Michoacan state's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve to see tens of thousands hover on branches in a scenic forest.

"Since the North American Free Trade Agreement symbol is a Monarch butterfly, Mexico, the United States and Canada should ban the release of transgenic products into the environment," says Homero Aridjis, one of Mexico's leading ecologists.

In the meantime, small farmers are meeting to discuss ways to stave off Bt corn and protect their beloved "Madre Maiz."

In Mazatlan Villa de Flores, village leaders recently met to debate strategy. After several hours, they agreed to continue to produce traditional corn, grow hybrids on isolated plots, and avoid transgenic crops for fear of becoming too dependent on foreign seed companies.

"If the community loses its corn, its Indian peasants lose their dignity," says Joel Aquino, a Zapotec farmer from the nearby village of Yalalag. "Corn is our food and the life of our culture."