Transgenes in Mexican Maize, Ten Years On

THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY INFORMATION SERVICE

Dear Friends and colleagues,

RE: Transgenes in Mexican Maize, Ten Years On

It has been 10 years since the discovery of transgenes in Mexican maize which caused much international concern over the contamination by GM crops in a center of origin and its implications on genetic diversity.

Since then, the pertinent question is no longer if transgenes will contaminate Mexico´s maize landraces, but more importantly, what we might lose if this continues, says GenØk -Centre for Biosafety, in a new briefing paper. Answering this question would require addressing the ecological, social, economic and cultural aspects related to transgene contamination of landraces including the need to fundamentally change how risk assessments are conducted and decisions are made.

The briefing is available at:

http://www.genok.com/news_cms/2011/december/genoek-biosafety-brief-transgenes-in-mexican-maize-ten-years-on-still-not-addressing-the-right-questions-on-risks/147

The briefing is an expanded version of a commentary published in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada (in Spanish) on 3 Dec 2011, and is available at http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2011/12/03/opinion/018a2pol

With best wishes,

Third World Network

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