The Genetic Memory of Corn and Cultures in Mexico Phil and Kathy Dahl-Bredine - CIP Americas
go to original May 8, 2015

Mexico's 'People of Corn': In Mexico, corn is central to most people's diets, and to many farmers' livelihoods. Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports from Tlaxcala, Mexico. (AlJazeeraEnglish)

In Mexico a judicial process is beginning to decide whether genetically modified corn will be widely planted here in the center of origin of corn. There is every reason against permitting this, from the fact that the seed is more expensive and does not yield more, to laboratory experiments that indicate potentially severe health effects from its consumption. The patent systems associated with these corns are effectively designed to concentrate control of seeds in corporate hands, and now the World Health Organization has determined that the herbicide, glyphosate, that most current GM corns are modified to resist, is a probable cause of cancer. The technological package that necessarily comes with GM corn raises production costs and creates total dependency on agribusiness corporations. Reason enough…

But here in Oaxaca those of us who still plant the rich variety of native corns have an additional reason. We have corns with a great variety of genetic strengths. In this Mixtec village of Yucuyoco it is the dry season. Yet many of us have just finished planting an ancient variety of corn called “cajete” that can resist months of drought until the first rains come in June.

This and hundreds of other varieties of native corns contain 10,000 years of genetic history and corresponding diversity. Biologists teach us that though all of this history is still in the memory of the corn seed, a corn plant at any one time “expresses” only a select part of the genetic richness it contains. What other hundreds of potential interesting “unexpressed” qualities might the cajete corn contain? But what characteristics will it express if contaminated with GM corn pollen? Will it still be drought resistant?

We wait to see if the culture of corporate privilege and political corruption that is behind the idea of patented genetically modified seeds is stronger than our reasons. In the meantime we wonder about how this culture came to be so dominant.

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