By Adriana Barrera
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico rules out further modifying a decree on genetically modified (GM) corn ahead of a dispute settlement panel requested by the United States through the USMCA trade pact, Mexican economy minister Raquel Buenrostro told Reuters on Monday.
Buenrostro’s comments come after the United States last week escalated its objections to the restrictions imposed by Mexico on imports of GM corn and requested a dispute settlement panel under the North American trade pact.
Mexico’s government published in mid-February some modifications to a first decree from the end of 2020 softening a harsh stance on GM corn and allowing its use for animal and industrial food consumption for people, amid a growing dispute with the United States.
The new decree maintained the ban on GM corn for human consumption, which it defined only as that used to make flour with which “tortillas” are made, a staple in the Mexican diet.
“It’s already written (…) it’s already in the decree,” Buenrostro said, referring to the current text which does allow for GM corn in animal food, a key concern for U.S. and Mexican industrialists.
“That is why care was taken to give the definition of corn for human food,” she said, adding that “the current legal framework does not put imports at risk.”
Mexico makes tortillas with non-transgenic white corn, of which it is self-sufficient, but imports around $5 billion annually from the United States, most of it yellow GM grain for livestock feed.
The panel was announced after the failure of formal consultations to resolve deep differences between the two trading partners over GM corn.
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