This article appeared in Spanish in La Jornada del Campo, translation published here at IATPiatp.org/false-alarms-over-mexicos-gm-corn-restrictions, Sept 6, 2023
Ever since Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued his initial 2020 decree restricting genetically modified (GM) corn and glyphosate imports and uses, U.S. commodity and agribusiness groups have been sounding alarms about the economic damages the measures would cause. The alarms kept ringing even after a series of productive negotiations resulted in a new decree in February 2023 that reduced the immediate restrictions on GM corn, postponing any action on GM feed corn imports and restricting only the use of GM corn in the tortilla-masa food chain.
No matter. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in announcing the call for formal consultations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) March 6, asserted, “Mexico’s policies threaten to disrupt billions of dollars in agricultural trade.”
There is no credible evidence to support that claim, which is based on flawed and now outdated industry-funded economic studies. The main source of disinformation was a September 2022 economic modeling study from consulting firm World Perspectives, Inc. (WPI), which claimed to show catastrophic impacts on U.S. and Canadian farmers and on Mexico’s own food security. It projected massive price spikes, market chaos and billions of dollars of lost output for U.S. corn farmers. Mexico would see its economic output fall by $19.39 billion, with an annual loss of 56,958 jobs, reducing labor income by $2.99 billion.
The economic study presented itself as coming from a “coalition of leading food and agriculture industry stakeholders,” but the project was commissioned by CropLife, the biotechnology industry trade association, and other agribusiness interests in the U.S. and Mexico. All have strong economic interests in opposing Mexico’s GM corn restrictions.
The exaggerated claims of economic damage sprang from a convenient set of assumptions, all of which are flawed and now outdated in light of the more recent presidential decree.
read the full article at IATP