Companies Hoping to End Mexico GMO Suspension Daniel Looker - Agriculture.com
go to original October 22, 2013

In a brief interview with Agriculture.com, 2013 World Food Prize Laureate Robert Fraley, Monsanto's Chief Technology Officer, said the he expects his company to try to end a recent suspension of field trials of genetically modified corn in Mexico.

"This will be a case where we'll follow up," Fraley said last week during a visit to the Des Moines, Iowa-based media company, Meredith Corporation (publisher of Successful Farming magazine). Fraley said that in Mexico, "any judge, anywhere, can make a ruling."

Monsanto already has gotten approval to plant genetically modified corn varieties from Mexico's departments of agriculture and of the environment and natural resources.

But the release of GM corn into the environment was challenged last July in court by 53 scientists, activists and others, including 22 environmental and human rights groups. Earlier this month, a judge in Mexico's Federal District issued a temporary suspension of further efforts to commercialize GM corn in Mexico.

In the nation that is the birthplace of the crop, any potential threat to native varieties is an emotional issue. But so is the need for better-yielding varieties in a nation that doesn't produce enough of the crop to meet internal demand.

Read the rest at Agriculture.com

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