Judicial Debate Begins on Impact of Genetically Modified Corn in Mexico Miguel Concha - La Jornada
go to original July 28, 2015

In May, hundreds of protesters gathered at Mexico City's independence monument 'Angel de la Independencia' to protest genetically modified food and multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporations such as Monsanto. (Ruptly TV)

The judicial debate on the impact of genetically modified (GM) corn on the environment and on health has begun, although the planting of these biotechnological products has been provisionally suspended.

Achieving this opportunity for access to justice required rural organizations and cooperatives, producers and marketers of Mexican corn, along with environmental groups, human rights organizations and prominent figures from the scientific community, to dodge 22 amparo petitions that the federal government and five transnational companies brought against them in 17 federal courts. Some of these injunctions were denied; others thrown out; others stayed or dismissed. But, finally, others were granted, ordering that because of the gravity of the probable risks, sowing GM seeds should remain provisionally suspended.

MV Note: Amparo is an original Mexican legal concept whose purpose is protecting rights and guarantees enshrined in Mexico's Constitution; in this case, Mexicans' human right to the biodiversity of their native corns; i.e., uncontaminated by GMOs [genetically modified organisms]. Amparo petitions are filed in special amparo courts, where they undergo a judicial procedure culminating in the Judge's resolution to grant or reject the petition.

The amparo petitions contested, among other issues, the judicial suspension of marketing GM corn; appeals court decisions; decisions of revocation [i.e., suspension of government authority to issue planting permits for GMOs], and the admission of a class action lawsuit, which 20 organizations and 53 citizens filed on June 5, 2013. They sought to stay the suspension, disqualify a judge and declare the laws on class action lawsuits unconstitutional, etc. This multitude of legal challenges had to be organized and systematized in order to be able to appear before each of the 17 federal courts.

In light of the avalanche of false arguments regarding GMOs, a court could have handed down a fatal judgment that would have allowed GM corn to be sown somewhere in Mexico, thereby contaminating cultivated fields in other unforeseen places, and spreading to even more places. Not everything was resolved as requested by those who filed the class action suit, myself included. We went through difficult times, as the courts are indifferent, although at the end of this first stage the class action lawsuit and the provisional suspension represent a breakthrough.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Louise McDonnell

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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