Mexico has submitted a response to the USMCA Dispute Settlement Panel regarding their ban on importation of GM corn for human consumption. The situation arose following a Presidential Decree banning GM corn for human consumption and the use of glyphosate herbicide. Mexico is claiming a deleterious effect from both glyphosate and GM corn but without substantiation.

The U.S. justifiably maintains that GM corn is innocuous given consumption over four decades. The Mexican position is that the U.S. must provide scientific evidence that genetic modification is not harmful. In contradistinction, it should be up to Mexico to demonstrate the actual harm resulting from consumption of GM corn.  The U.S. maintains that in accordance with USMCA rules, decisions to restrict products must be based on sound science.

Mexico imports yellow GM corn that is to be used in animal feed although the Presidential Decree initially called for a phase-out of GM product that would place both U.S. and Mexico at a disadvantage.  The action by the Government of Mexico has placed the U.S. in the invidious position of having to prove that GM corn is not inherently harmful. This is a far more difficult alternative than actually demonstrating a deleterious effect from consumption of a food especially if the Precautionary Principle is applied.

Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (“AMLO”) is ill advised. It is hoped that his most likely successor, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist, will quietly squelch the issue for the benefit of consumers in Mexico and the Nation’s economy.