Transgenic soy, the cultivation of discord in the Mexican southeast

Since Mexico authorized the commercial planting of transgenic soy in the Yucatan Peninsula in 2012, without consulting local farmers who defend traditional crops, the The modified legume that the company Monsanto patented became the seed of discord.

Mexico, Nov 23 (EFE) .- Since Mexico authorized the commercial planting of transgenic soy in the Yucatan Peninsula in 2012, without consulting the local farmers who defend the traditional crops, the modified legume patented by the company Monsanto became the seed of discord.

Five years later, legal litigation continues. Mayan communities that denounce the progress of the planting of transgenic soy despite the fact that the Supreme Court suspended commercial-scale cultivation in some municipalities in November 2015; Southeast states of Campeche and Yucatan to give the indigenous people the right to be consulted about what agricultural activities they want in their territories.

The consultations were entrusted to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and the Intersecretarial Commission on Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms, but the process has almost year and a half.

On November 13, a new battle began: Mayan communities of Holpechén (Campeche) and civil and human rights organizations reported to the authorities the alleged illegal planting of more than 23,000 hectares of transgenic soybean and ensure that the seed is owned by Monsanto.

The complaints include documentation in photo and video of crops and evidence of fumigations with glyphosate, a herbicide that is used mainly to ensure that the modified legume grows without weeds or insects that may affect it.

accusations were presented before the National Service of Health, Safety and Food Quality (Senasica) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa), in the state of Campeche.

"It is necessary for Senasica to investigate what responsibility Monsanto has, that it must maintain a rigorous chain of custody to know at all times where is the seed that was sold and who is cultivating it? "explained Nafeeli Ramirez, lawyer of the Collective of Communities of the Chenes, told Efe.

Monsanto says it has not sold its seed of soy in Campeche to comply with the ruling of the Court and puts into question the sustenance of these complaints.

"Assume that 25,000 hectares (sic) are genetically modified soybean I think dangerous; that "the fact that there is cultivated soybean can not be an argument to say that it is genetically modified." There must be a lot of care in the affirmations made about it; Campeche's farmers are soybean producers and it could be that they planted conventional soy, "he said.

In 2016, Senasica reported planting and commercialization of transgenic soybeans patented by Monsanto and which was of two different types, called MON-04032-6 and MON-89788-1, or a combination of them. Genetically Modified Organisms.

In the denunciations of November 13 the Mayans and organizations also demand Senasica to investigate the presence of Monsanto's soy variety not authorized in the country and that could reach Campeche through the black market.

On the subject Ojeda emphasized: "There are legal mechanisms to combat these types of markets. a very strong biosecurity regime in Mexico that allows the authority in this case to do the necessary research to understand where these products come from and prevent them from these illegal markets. "

However, the complainants do not think so." In a biosecurity system, the Mexican authority must know where the genetically modified product is. This has not happened with this permission from Monsanto in Holpechén. Biosecurity in our country does not work and only serves the purposes of companies like Monsanto with economic ambitions in this field, "he said.

Since 2012, the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio) reported irregularities in the experimental and pilot stages of the cultivation of genetically modified soy from Monsanto, because they were sown thousands of hectares of this product outside the permitted perimeters and in Natural Protected Areas.

Given these irregularities Conabio refused to recommend the authorization of this cultivation of Monsanto for possible impacts on biodiversity in the Yucatan Peninsula, which includes the states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.