The U.S. Trade Representative announced [August 17] the creation of a dispute settlement panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in response to restrictions Mexico placed on GM corn for tortilla dough in February.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that “Mexico’s approach to biotechnology is not based on science and runs counter to decades’ worth of evidence demonstrating its safety and the rigorous, science-based regulatory review system that ensures it poses no harm to human health and the environment.”
Claiming to have proof to the contrary, [Mexican President Andrés Manuel] López Obrador proposed the creation of a binational research group to “know for certain if GM corn causes harm to human health or not.”
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A group of activists and researchers refuted U.S. claims of GM corn’s safety in a recent webinar, alleging they are part of a broader conspiracy to cover up scientific evidence to the contrary.
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Antonio Turrent Fernández, a researcher with Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research who opposes GM corn, said he indeed believes in this “gigantic” conspiracy.
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Turrent told Courthouse News that he will participate in a new study in Mexico which will include the French molecular biologist Gilles-Éric Séralini, the researcher behind [a] retracted 2012 study.
