The controversy over Mexican maize stems from work performed by David Quist and Ignacio Chapela, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, whose analyses indicated that DNA sequences presumed to have come from commercial transgenic maize had found their way into a small number of farmer-bred maize plants in Mexico. The researchers conjectured that the flow of transgenes might represent a threat to biological diversity. Their paper, published in Nature at the end of November after an extensive period of review and revision, stimulated environmental groups to urge governments to step up their restrictions on GM crop activity (Nat. Biotechnol. 20, 3, 2002).
Such reactions reflect genuine concerns about threats to genetic diversity, especially in areas such as Mexico which, as the origin of maize-based agriculture, is the center of genetic diversity for that crop. At the beginning of December, the Mexican senate took up Greenpeace's cry and called for its Department of Agriculture to stop all Mexican imports of US corn. President Vicente Fox and his government have resisted these calls. Luis Herrera-Estrella, Director of CINVESTAV Irapuato, Mexico's leading center for plant biotechnology, believes that the Mexican government will not be rushed into decisions until scientific investigations are complete. “People generally are not really worried about this and, unless there is huge amount of public pressure, the political response in Mexico will be rational,” says Herrera. That is not to say that that there are no implications within Mexico. Its own moratorium on commercial planting of GM materials was due to end in April 2002 but will now probably be extended, according to Herrera.
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