November, 2003
Mexican
Maize and GM Corn: Protecting a
Center
of Origin
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 Hernández, a Mexican agronomist from
the University Autónoma 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 Autónoma 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 Horsch |
Because 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
Hernández.
|
"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 Solieri |
In
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
Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico
Nacional de México) 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 Café.
"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?'"
For more information, please visit
FUMEC; the
University Autónoma Chapingo; the
Tiffen Lab; the
University Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro;
CINVESTAV; the
Missouri Botanical Garden; and the
University of California, Santa Barbara online. |
