Mysterious 'Alien' Corn Invades Mexico Countryside

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Mysterious 'Alien' Corn Invades Mexico Countryside

By PAV JORDAN

Reuters

CAPULALPAN, Mexico (Jan. 30) - In this one-telephone village in the hills of

Mexico's Oaxaca state, corn grows out of cracks in the sidewalks, along

roadsides and anywhere else it can find soil.

That may sound like a farmer's utopia, but for people in Capulalpan and a

host of other mountain settlements where corn is a staple of every family's

diet, it is more like an aberration of nature.

Local and foreign scientists have concluded the mysterious, ubiquitous corn

variety is genetically modified, and illegal.

The presence of the modified corn amid local corn varieties is not yet

alarming, but scientists warn it could usurp the hardier Oaxaca corn quickly

unless it is stopped soon.

Transgenic strains were found in 15 of 22 communities in these hills and in 3

to 10 percent of plants in the fields sampled.

''What's frightening is how fast it has spread,'' said Yolanda Lara,

spokeswoman for Oaxaca's non-governmental Rural Development Agency. ''The

government must put a stop to this.''

Mexicans, who see their country as the birthplace of the centuries-old maize

crop, are appalled by the discovery of genetically modified corn in their

most far-flung highlands.

And speculation that the modified corn reached their lands in government

trucks carrying subsidized kernels to community stores has fired that outrage

still further.

GOVERNMENT UNDER FIRE

Cultivating genetically modified corn has been prohibited in Mexico since

1998, although it is imported from the United States for human consumption.

Village elders for whom corn is a way of life in the Oaxaca highlands first

raised the alarm that a wild strain of corn was invading their native or

so-called ''Creole'' maize.

''This corn is going to waste away our creoles,'' said Lino ez, the

81-year-old farmer of a small corn plot in nearby La Trinidad, perched on a

steep mountainside with cornfields snaking up and down its slopes.

In La Trinidad, even the dentist's office has a corn patch for a backyard.

Biologists used DNA-testing on the ''wild'' corn and discovered that it was

genetically modified. The University of California at Berkeley confirmed

local findings in November, prompting demands that the Mexican government

halt imports of transgenic corn.

With the presence of alien corn confirmed, activists are now going after its

presumed source.

Residents in Capulalpan and a string of surrounding villages claim the corn

arrived on government trucks dispensing low-cost basic food items to people

in the area, where almost every house is flanked by a cornfield.

''Wherever those kernels fell, off the backs of the trucks, from bags carried

from the store, the corn would grow,'' said Olga Toro Maldonada, 39, who

cultivates corn in her backyard to help feed her six children.

''It even grows out of the concrete.''

She claims the corn has been in the village for several years and is readily

available at the local government store. Locals say the modified corn kernels

are larger, differently colored and don't taste as sweet as native varieties.

SUSCEPTIBLE TO PLAGUE

Maldonada began planting the kernels herself three years ago, curious to see

how they would grow. She says at least five other families in Capulalpan

followed suit.

The results were remarkable, at first.

''The first crop was marvelous, yielding two or three head of corn per plant

instead of one,'' said Maldonada as she walked through her tiny corn patch,

pointing out varieties of maize she said were Creole, genetically modified

and mixed.

It takes between four and five head of corn to create one kilogram of maize

for tortillas, the nation's main staple food, so the new corn strain at first

seemed to be a godsend.

But the windfall soured as Maldonada noticed that while the corn grew

anywhere and with very little water, it was highly susceptible to plague once

ripe.

She only stopped harvesting the maize after being told it was genetically

modified and still an unknown quantity in the science world, where the impact

of transgenics on the environment is unclear.

Scientists and environmentalists say they are concerned the transgenic maize

could usurp the Creole variety, which has become largely resistant to local

plagues and diseases.

Officials at the government's basic foods distribution program, Diconsa,

which sells subsidized corn to 23,000 stores nationwide, deny claims they

distribute the corn and say their maize is grown locally or bought from local

distributors.

Diconsa director general Toledo told Reuters in a telephone

interview that imported corns are only bought when national production does

not suffice.

Sources in Mexico could not identify U.S. companies exporting the corn, which

is transported in bulk and distributed among Mexican buyers.

Mexico imports some 6 million ton(ne)s of corn each year to make up for

deficit production, although Diconsa buys only a fraction of that.

''And that maize is certified by sanitary authorities in the country of

origin and by authorities here in Mexico,'' said , pledging to open

Diconsa's 300 or so warehouses to inspection to prove they were free of

transgenics.

Environmental groups like Greenpeace maintain the government is distributing

the modified corn nationwide.

''Diconsa is importing it and distributing it throughout the country,'' said

Magallon, in charge of Greenpeace's campaign to prevent the

contamination of Mexico's biodiversity with transgenics.

Most people in Capulalpan have no doubt the corn came from Diconsa. They

point to two giant corn stalks growing from patches of grass outside the

agency's store as proof.

The sales clerk at the Diconsa store here also says that a portion of the

corn he sells is transgenic. ''You can tell because the kernels are slightly

bigger and the color is a bit off,'' he said.

More scientific proof comes from the laboratory at the USACHI agricultural

research center in La Trinidad. The lab discovered transgenic strains in

samples of corn sold at the local Diconsa stores, agronomists said.

''We were alarmed when we found that the source of this corn was the

government,'' said Lilia , a local agronomist who spent 20 days at

Berkeley learning to identify DNA that has been genetically modified.

''It is horrible we are actually being sold this corn.''

Reut06:48 01-30-02