Indigenous Tarahumara, Mexican and Global Groups Struggle to Protect Native Corn Victor M Quintana S. - La Jornada
go to original May 13, 2013

Ten years seem to be nothing, but for several Rarámuri communities from the Sierra [Mountains] of Chihuahua, it is a timespan that has been filled with their fight to defend their corn - the corn that took hundreds of years to adapt to the cold, to drought, to the altitude, to the rocky soils.

Since 2003, the communities of Magulliachi, El Consuelo, Bacaburéachi, Pasigochi and Rocheachi in the municipalities of  Carichi and Guachochi of the Sierra Tarahumara have participated in random sampling to determine if native corn planted in their fields had been contaminated by toxins from transgenic [GM] corn.

The sampling activity was organized by CECCAM [private soil laboratory], CENAMI [international aid organization for indigenous peoples], the ETC Group [environmental action group] and CONTEC Community Technical Consulting. The investigations revealed that 33 percent of the samples were contaminated by GM corn. The source of contagion: corn distributed by DICONSA [program of Secretariat of Social Development for alleviating poverty] in their community stores and from food aid provided by private institutions.

Since then, indigenous governors, civil associations and small farmer organizations have denounced the contamination of native corn.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!