GM Maize in Mexico: The Challenge of Coexistence in a Centre of Origin

Abstract

One of the sub-texts to the debate about coexistence is whether and how modern improved varieties embodying GM traits can coexist with landrace varieties and traditional knowledge, especially in centres of origin and biological diversity. This issue came to a head in 2001 when David Quist and Ignacio Chapela, two University of California Berkeley plant biologists, published in Nature that they had found transgenes introgressed in local maize landraces in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico (Quist and Chapela 2001). A pressing concern for many was that none of the transgenes found had been approved for deliberate environmental release in Mexico. The resulting flurry of activity engaged local campesinos, a host of environmental NGOs, the main biotechnology companies that had developed the disputed traits, a range of scientists around the world, various state authorities and the federal government in Mexico and, ultimately, a reference to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

The author was a member of the CEC Advisory Panel 2003–2004.