Víctor Osorio/ Reform Agency
Monday, April 10, 2023 | 15:49
CDMX.- The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) reported that they will strengthen measures to detect the presence of genetically modified corn in the dough and tortillas consumed in the country.
In a statement, they announced the installation of a work table for the analytical strengthening of the National Reference Laboratory.
The measure, they explained, is intended to endorse the precautionary measure issued in 2013 and confirmed in 2021 by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which prohibits the release into the environment of corn with genetic alterations, since it could contaminate the thousands of varieties native.
Cofepris and Conacyt recalled that the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which emerged from the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), recommended in 2004 to avoid the entry of viable transgenic corn grain, with the capacity to germinate, as well as its planting.
There are compelling data, they argued, that demonstrate the impossibility of segregating transgenic maize from the native ones in countries like Mexico, which are the center of origin and genetic diversity.
“It is essential that the Government of Mexico, through the institutions responsible for scientific and technical analysis, ensure that all transgenic maize materials that enter the country come unviable so that they cannot be used as seeds,” they highlighted.
