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Science Forum Index » Agriculture Forum » Mexican maize and GM corn: protecting a center of origin
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| David Kendra |
 Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2003 8:57 pm |
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Mexican maize and GM corn: protecting a center of origin
November 6, 2003
AgBiotech Buzz - Richness of Maize - - Vol. 3, Issue 5
http://pewagbiotech.org/buzz/display.php3?StoryID=111
When scientists reported two years ago that genes from genetically modified
corn may have been found in native Mexican corn species, it made headlines
around the world - for a few days.
Not so in Mexico. In a nation where corn - or maize - was originally bred
from a wild plant some 7,000 years ago and where both civilization and
culture are intertwined with this crop, the possibility that genes from GM
corn could have an impact on the immense variety of Mexican maize has
remained a highly visible and charged issue.
"Food is a cultural issue. The notion was overlooked by many people who
started GM."
Bill Lambrecht"Maize is one of the great factors for development of culture
for this country," says Juan Manuel Hern?ndez, a Mexican agronomist from the
University Aut?noma Agraria Antonio Narro, speaking at a two-day Mexico City
workshop on gene flow hosted by the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science
(FUMEC) and the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology in late September.
Without doubt, maize plays a pivotal role in Mexico and Mexican culture.
What may be less obvious is how important Mexican maize is to the rest of
the world, because Mexico is the crop's "center of origin."
As a center of origin, Mexico is a source of enormous genetic diversity.
Mexico has a tremendous array of maize - some 59 races, each with a large
number of sub-varieties, said Rafael Ortega Paczka, research coordinator at
the University Aut?noma Chapingo and member of the Mexican Society of Plant
Breeding. Unlike the limited number of varieties of corn that appear in U.S.
or European grocery stores, Mexican maize comes in all colors, sizes,
shapes, and textures with a variety of uses and flavors. What's more, it is
bred to grow in very specific places: from mountains where the weather is
wet and cool to the hot, drought-prone valleys, and everywhere in between.
The tremendous natural genetic diversity of maize is important to the world
because it allows breeders to develop new maize varieties with traits that
make it easier for farmers to grow.
In addition to these landraces, Mexico also is home to a wild grass called
teosinte, the plant from which maize was originally bred and developed
thousands of years ago. There is at least a theoretical concern that GM corn
could cross-pollinate with teosinte, introducing the corn's "transgenes"
(genes from one organism inserted into another organism) into the wild
teosinte population, according to evolutionary biologist Peter Tiffin of the
University of Minnesota.
The possibility for cross-pollination of native and agricultural varieties -
also known as "gene flow" - is not unique to GM corn. The concern is that
introducing modern corn varieties, including GM varieties, into the center
of origin could reduce the genetic diversity of maize. Should modern
varieties crossbreed with native maize, the resulting hybrids may prove to
be highly competitive and could displace some native varieties. As a result,
breeders could lose some genes from the native land races that may be
important later.
"Biotech actually [could] have benefits to small farmers in Mexico."
Robert HorschBecause of general anxieties about agricultural biotechnology,
concerns about gene flow from GM corn receive significant attention and
nowhere more so than in Mexico.
"This is the central issue in many parts of the world, but especially in
Mexico because it is the center of origin [of maize]," said Exequiel
Ezcurra, president of Mexico's National Institute of Ecology.
Even so, GM corn isn't the only, or necessarily the major, threat to maize
diversity. For example, general agricultural has significant effects on the
environment. "Agriculture is bad for biodiversity," say Peter Raven,
director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and board chairman for the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"Maize is an incredibly diverse crop," says Tiffin. It's also one that has
become completely dependent on humans because it cannot disperse its own
seeds. "If humans were to stop planting it, it would cease to exist."
Therein lays the crux of the Mexican maize matter: "The great part of the
diversity is in the hands of the farmers," says Hern?ndez.
"In farmers' households all aspects of corn are part of life. Corn is not
bought and eaten, but it is planted, grown, harvested and processed to make
food. [It is] eaten, stored, used for ceremonies and seed is shared with
neighbors and family."
Daniela SolieriIn addition, Paczka point out that "Many races (of maize) are
being lost because of the losses in tradition." Those traditions are being
lost because younger people are emigrating to the U.S. or urban areas in
Mexico.
"Young people, women and men, leave not because they don't like Mexico, but
because they don't like poverty," says Daniela Soleri, who studies culture
of crop management practices in Mexico at the University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Some argue that GM corn could in fact help alleviate the economic problems
associated with migration and the resultant cultural loss which threaten
maize, says Robert Horsch, vice president of product and technology
cooperation at Monsanto, a producer of GM maize. "Biotech actually [could]
have benefits to small farmers in Mexico."
In the Philippines, Horsch notes, small farmers using GM corn have increased
yields 30 percent and reduced their costs by 20 percent. "These are very
substantial, real benefits from the first year of introduction."
Horsch expresses concern that many times a great deal of energy is spent
fighting over the wrong problem. For instance, while people were up in arms
about the possible effects of GM corn on monarch butterflies in the U.S.,
logging was underway in Mexico that was dramatically reducing the wintertime
habitat for those very same butterflies. "The irony was that the concern for
a possible risk could have prevented solving an actual threat to habitat."
There would be consequences for Mexico's economic future if it does not
allow GM crops, says Victor Villalobos, coordinator of international affairs
for Mexico's Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development. If
Mexico must become more competitive in the international market, it also
needs to improve the standard of living for farmers, protect natural
resources and, develop a better regulatory framework and better technology
for rural farmers, he says. "It's clear that Mexico cannot keep itself on
the margin of benefits offered by biotechnology and genetic engineering."
Raven agrees that GM technology could provide significant benefits for
Mexico. For example, one way to reduce the impact of agriculture on
biodiversity is to use current farmland more effectively and employ fewer
pesticides, he says. GM crops can help intensify production and stop the
spread of agriculture to marginal, sensitive lands, says Raven. "It's a
matter of record that GM crops have reduced the use of pesticides."
Luis Herrera Estrella, Director of CINVESTAV (Centro de Investigaci?n y
Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Polit?cnico Nacional de M?xico) agrees.
According to Dr. Estrella, in order for Mexico to reap the benefits of GM
technology while minimizing the risks, research must be completed to
understand what happens when transgenic varieties are planted in a center of
origin. He further notes that the research hasn't taken place in large part
because of the moratorium on planting GM corn in Mexico.
In order to get the best answers from any research conducted, University of
California, Santa Barbara's Daniela Soleri notes, the small farmer must be
involved. "In farmers' households all aspects of corn are part of life," she
says. "Corn is not bought and eaten, but it is planted, grown, harvested and
processed to make food. [It is] eaten, stored, used for ceremonies and seed
is shared with neighbors and family. That's different from the industrial
model we all live with. Our goal is to bring farmers [points of view] into
the policy discussion."
Regardless of the science or policy of the matter, however, there is no
magic bullet that's going to solve Mexico's maize controversy. That's
because it's a cultural - not scientific - matter, says Bill Lambrecht,
Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and
author of Dinner at the New Gene Caf?.
"Food is a cultural issue," says Lambrecht. "The notion was overlooked by
many people who started GM." Working through cultural issues is a formidable
task, he notes, recalling Charles DeGaulle's response to the question of how
to govern France, "How can you govern a country with 300 kinds of cheese?'" |
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