A Thing Of Immense Importance Happened, No One Is Reporting It.
March 28, 2021 9:27 AM   Subscribe

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador quietly rocked the agribusiness world with his New Year’s Eve decree to phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate and the cultivation of genetically modified corn. His administration sent an even stronger aftershock two weeks later, clarifying that the government would also phase out GM corn imports in three years and the ban would include not just corn for human consumption but yellow corn destined primarily for livestock. Under NAFTA, the United States has seen a 400% increase in corn exports to Mexico, the vast majority genetically modified yellow dent corn.

When it comes to Glyphosate and genetically modified corn, Mexico is taking the health and cultural legacy of its citizens far more seriously than the US. No surprise perhaps, considering the US government's eagerness to to put business profits ahead of its citizens health and well being.
posted by WalkerWestridge (39 comments total) 50 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow this is great, thanks for sharing.

There's some fascinating heirloom corn in Mexico that can fix nitrogen via bacteria housed in slime produced by the corn.

Stuff like that can reduce fertilizer use, which also reduces the need for glyphosate.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:36 AM on March 28, 2021 [15 favorites]


Good on President Obrador! He must have fought powerful financial and political pressure. If the price of beef rockets in the next couple years it could be a tough line to hold, good luck to him.

(The article points out that feedstock relies on "cheap" US corn shipments, which in turn depend on high volume technology that include genetically modified corn that resists the plants dying from the weedkiller Roundup, which makes Monsanto huge profits).
posted by sammyo at 11:12 AM on March 28, 2021 [4 favorites]


Sounds excellent. Fingers crossed.
posted by Glinn at 11:14 AM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


Thanks for this post!

P.S. The documentary SUNÚ is a beautiful exploration of Mexican maize farmers (from the teeny tiny to the mega farm) that is worth watching! (If your public/university library has Kanopy streaming, I found it on there).
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:20 AM on March 28, 2021 [7 favorites]


This was made possible by a landslide victory supported by rural voters. I have rural voter envy.
posted by aniola at 11:24 AM on March 28, 2021 [23 favorites]


And so many warm fuzzies.
posted by aniola at 11:25 AM on March 28, 2021 [2 favorites]


Hmmm... This sounds kinda bullshitty regarding the science and the politics involved. Any alternative takes out there? Corn is a pretty huge political factor in Mexico, as it is in the US, though for different reasons, and farming in Mexico was held back for decades because of it. Huge cultural factors indeed, though glyphosate and gmos are loaded with a whole lotta political and pseudoscience bs that should raise red flags. Not to mention Obrador's Trumpian instincts.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:42 AM on March 28, 2021 [16 favorites]


This is interesting, mostly if it does anything to stop seed companies from controlling farmers, although this bit
When it comes to Glyphosate and genetically modified corn, Mexico is taking the health and cultural legacy of its citizens far more seriously than the US. No surprise perhaps, considering the US government's eagerness to to put business profits ahead of its citizens health and well being.
is somewhat weird framing, considering AMLO's lack of eagerness to put citizens' health ahead when it comes to covid (321,000 confirmed deaths so far). If nothing else, this pandemic is really helping to clarify the outline of populism -- which issues populists tend to adopt and which they don't.
posted by trig at 11:42 AM on March 28, 2021 [10 favorites]


Lopez Obrador's government is also building an $8 billion oil refinery ; cutting down half of Yucatan's jungle ecosystem to build a train nobody is going to ride; plans to destroy one of Mexico's City's largest parks; and has killed 321,000+ people because of his piss poor management of the COVID crisis. Call me skeptical, but I don't think he cares that much about most Mexican's health or anything regarding ecology. He cares about power, plain and simple. He's like Trump, a broken clock that's right twice a day.
posted by Omon Ra at 12:17 PM on March 28, 2021 [34 favorites]


This is a very editorialized post on a complicated subject where neither the politics not the science are straightforward. I think metafilter can do better.
posted by saturday_morning at 12:21 PM on March 28, 2021 [51 favorites]


Hmmm... This sounds kinda bullshitty regarding the science and the politics involved.


I wonder if you could elaborate on that a little bit so people could actually address your statement.

Growing up in the Southwest I have long been aware of science/scientists in the area concerned about the effect GMOs/Glyphosate were having on corn (mainly) and other crops grown by native communities both in the United States and in Mexico. The work of groups like Native Seeds Search inspired a climite of food awareness in the whole Sonoran region, that I think was ahead of it's time.

I'm a bit surprised by the negative feedback here. I didn't say Obrador is just a swell guy in every way and I agree with everything he does, but on this issue the result, whatever the politics, is an extremely positive one.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:28 PM on March 28, 2021 [5 favorites]


Trump pretty much tore up NAFTA and peed on it and made both Canada and Mexico far less likely to trust the U.S. Government on anything regardless of who is currently in power because y'all could elect more jingoistic idiots at any election. Canada and Mexico were always sleeping beside an elephant and worrying about it rolling over but Trump's rampage means they just are not going to sleep anymore. The ability to force unfavorable trade on either nation is far less likely now because the populations which always had under-currents of anti-Americanism got four years of Trump observation to confirm all the worst things they believed.

The vaccine nationalism despite existing agreements and contracts probably also won't help either because that was some further abuse of trade agreements. I wouldn't actually be that surprised if covid-19 significantly weakens America's ability to engage on agreements going forward particularly IP related concerns related to Pharma.
posted by srboisvert at 12:31 PM on March 28, 2021 [15 favorites]


I didn't say Obrador is just a swell guy…

The post begins with his name, and he has a history of claiming ownership and success for things he had nothing to do with. Right now, his face is on COVID vaccination stations thanking him for the vaccine, as if he had paid for them (just imagine Trump doing the same). The editorializing, as saturday_morning states is problematic at best.
posted by Omon Ra at 12:37 PM on March 28, 2021 [4 favorites]


Also, the article I linked came from a link on the Rodale Institute website. So, you know, pretty well respected science. Just sayin'.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:41 PM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


Monoculture agriculture is terrible for the environment, but just banning glyphosate is not the solution I'd want. Considering how dangerous "horticultural" vinegar is, most herbicides are comparatively harmless. I don't know what the situation on the ground in Mexico is, but trying to control invasive plants without herbicide is basically pointless. Combined with a blanket ban on genetically modified corn this seems poorly thought out.
posted by ockmockbock at 12:42 PM on March 28, 2021 [7 favorites]


I would love to hear an inside-baseball analysis of why AMLO is making this move, the science behind it, and what the impact is likely to be, because if I've learned anything from Dr. Sarah Taber it's that anything I've ever assumed about farming is probably wrong.

I feel like conversations about GMOs are often limited to health concerns/frustration over health concerns, but I'd really like to learn more about bigger-picture issues, e.g., Monsanto's aggressive business tactics or monopolization of markets, monoculture concerns, the environmental effects of widespread glyphosphate use, climate change impacts, the politics behind all of that, etc.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 12:49 PM on March 28, 2021 [17 favorites]


Mod note: One comment removed - articles about touchy topics tend to have touchy discussions. Please be mindful of the guidelines and content policy.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:06 PM on March 28, 2021


FWIW, Monsanto was sold and partially split up in 2018.

Big agribusiness is absolutely still an issue, but that particular goliath no longer exists in the form that most of us are familiar with.
posted by schmod at 1:35 PM on March 28, 2021 [2 favorites]


Also: I feel like I watched a documentary (probably one with English subtitles?) that covered some of the patronage politics around pesticide distribution in Mexico, but I'm having a hard time pulling anything up.

There were scenes in which government officials distributed free pesticides to farmers in rural areas by staging an event with speechifying and banners letting people know exactly who and which party they could thank. A sort of mish-mash of bottles of pesticides were then distributed to farmers, but without protective equipment or any information about what the chemicals were (short of the labels on the bottles themselves), how they should be applied, and how they should or shouldn't be used in combination.

Any chance that rings a bell for someone?
posted by evidenceofabsence at 1:36 PM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's funny - people have kneejerk reactions to this, but the burden of carrying on a dispassionate discourse is laid on farmers in developing countries.
posted by splitpeasoup at 2:59 PM on March 28, 2021 [5 favorites]


Good on President Obrador!

Obligatory loving reminder, one gabacho to another, that Spanish-background naming customs are different and that he's Lopez Obrador, not Obrador.

tldr: you get a surname from your mother and another surname from your father, ending up as Yourname Fathersname Mothersname. For a lot of people, their paternal surname functions like a gringo surname would, so for a lot of people the name in the middle is the surname (Vicente FOX Quesada). But this isn't universal. People with very common paternal surnames, like Lopez, often either use both surnames together as their surname (Gabriel GARCIA MARQUEZ), or go by their maternal surname (Benito Perez GALDOS).
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:46 PM on March 28, 2021 [23 favorites]


I would love to hear an inside-baseball analysis of why AMLO is making this move, the science behind it, and what the impact is likely to be, because if I've learned anything from Dr. Sarah Taber it's that anything I've ever assumed about farming is probably wrong.

I feel like conversations about GMOs are often limited to health concerns/frustration over health concerns, but I'd really like to learn more about bigger-picture issues, e.g., Monsanto's aggressive business tactics or monopolization of markets, monoculture concerns, the environmental effects of widespread glyphosphate use, climate change impacts, the politics behind all of that, etc.



Yes. Very much this. Not to diminish the health concerns, but because there seem to be so many issues around glyphosate and GMOs in general. I would be very interested in links and discussion of this paticular decision, the reasons that may lie behind it, and what it may mean now and in the future to US/Mexican relations and to the world in general. I think there's so much to discus here, the act is momentous whether you feel it to be good or bad, and I hope we can stay on topic as much as possible.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 4:17 PM on March 28, 2021


... and so I guess I'll go first and address the "pseudoscience and BS involved" with (I take it) concerns about GMO's and Glyphosate. I am not going to address the Glyphosate part of this, because frankly, I feel like that is a rapidly developing issue and should probably be a whole other post. So, on to the concern about GMO's. In this particular case, one of the issues with GMO corn is the fact that, being a wind pollinated plant, GMO corn readily interbreeds with native, drought adapted varieties of corn that have been grown and developed over hundreds of years to survive and yield in areas with large portions of the landscape prone to drought and aridity. The intermixing of GMO plants which are not drought adapted, is a matter of food security to many people living in these regions. I feel like the science on this is pretty clear and not questionable, but if anyone feels differently I'm interested to hear what they have to say.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 5:24 PM on March 28, 2021 [13 favorites]




My total guess, based on vaguely-absorbed news over the years?
- Mexico forced by NAFTA to swallow cheap-ass GMO/monoculture [and hence lower quality due to higher starch and lower protein and mineral content] corn imports from USA undercut Mexican farmers driving many out of business;
- Oil price spike circa 2007 drove up ethanol and hence corn [and hence other grains] prices, leading to food shortages among the global poor, including in Mexico;
- Publicity around cancer and neurological disorders probably caused by (illegal but unregulated) glyphosate exposure among Mexican migrant farm workers working in USA.

Stir well and you've got a populist doing the right things for not entirely wrong reasons. Difficult for the US media to report on because it doesn't fit their narrative about AMLO.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:20 PM on March 28, 2021 [3 favorites]


Also, banning GMO corn and corn grown using glyphosate effectively bans all corn imports from USA, without explicitly banning all corn imports from USA.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:23 PM on March 28, 2021 [6 favorites]


I finally found it! The short film I was thinking of is Ligeramente Tóxico, which was part of Ambulante Más Allá. It can be found here, but sin subtítulos. It was filmed during the Peña Nieto administration and covers the distribution of pesticides in Campeche as part of the PROCAMPO program, which also subsidizes corn farming.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 7:36 PM on March 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


U.S. outraged at Latin American resistance to corporate activity. News at eleven.
posted by No Robots at 8:04 PM on March 28, 2021 [8 favorites]


Being anti-chemical, anti-GMO and anti-nuclear power

has somehow become fashionably conflated with being anti-science, as if believing in astrology and crystals.

Corporate propaganda is to blame I suspect.
posted by goinWhereTheClimateSuitsMyClothes at 11:44 PM on March 28, 2021 [6 favorites]


Folks I am happy to spray Roundup on my farm without being covered up. My main complaint is it seems to be losing effectiveness.
Anti-chemical hysteria !
posted by Narrative_Historian at 12:16 AM on March 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


No Robots, if the main complaint is that the media is ignoring this policy change, how can that be interpreted as American outrage?
posted by Selena777 at 6:19 AM on March 29, 2021


Right now, his face is on COVID vaccination stations thanking him for the vaccine, as if he had paid for them (just imagine Trump doing the same).

Chicago's mayor has her photo on the vax info handouts. Hell our alderman even have their names on police barricades so they can claim some credit for any event involving a street closure. In some places this wrongness is just how things are done.
posted by srboisvert at 6:39 AM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]


No Robots, if the main complaint is that the media is ignoring this policy change, how can that be interpreted as American outrage?

It was a dig at some of the comments here.
posted by No Robots at 7:50 AM on March 29, 2021


Being anti-chemical, anti-GMO and anti-nuclear power

has somehow become fashionably conflated with being anti-science

Anti-Chemical is meaningless because all matter is made up of chemicals. That one alone needs to be a lot more specific to have any meaning at all.
posted by soelo at 12:11 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]


Being anti-chemical, anti-GMO and anti-nuclear power

has somehow become fashionably conflated with being anti-science, as if believing in astrology and crystals.

Corporate propaganda is to blame I suspect.


I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean? Is it good to be anti-the first three things, but not the other thing? Is conflation of all four things into one nebulous (not good) thing a goal of corporate propaganda? Unless we have abrupt and horrifically sharp declines in global human populations, I am seeing potential benefits to everything but the astrology and crystals.
posted by elkevelvet at 1:50 PM on March 29, 2021


AMLO is one more in the Trump, Bolsonaro, Duterte, etc... cohort. It will be interesting what comes of this ruling. Who makes billions and who dies.

If you are into things like this and can get it, try a bottle of Whisky Abasolo. Made from an ancestral strain of maize from central mexico, nixtamalized, fermented and distilled close to the origin. It is pretty good IMHO, and I hope it opens the door to more uses for heirloom maize and for more premium Mexican distillates beyond tequila and mezcal. Full disclosure, I am friends with the molecular biologist and master distiller who developed it.

I've been experimenting with a home still. I live in one of the ancestral maize producing regions in Mexico, and it is still hard to get heirloom varieties. So far my whiskies have not been that good, but I expect they'll get better in 7 to 10 years.
posted by Dr. Curare at 5:51 PM on March 29, 2021 [3 favorites]


It's missing the point to say that there is limited scientific evidence that glyphosate is worse than other herbicides (it's probably less toxic than most) or that GM maize is safe (which it is).

It's also missing the point to make this about monoculture, although that is getting closer to the issue, since this is also about imports.

What this is really about is democracy. Mexican rural voters wanted and want this and they are getting it.
posted by atrazine at 3:33 AM on March 30, 2021 [4 favorites]


What’s the world’s most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?
Glyphosate-based herbicides are not supposed to harm wildlife. But lab studies keep finding otherwise.
As the active ingredient in Bayer's Roundup herbicide is increasingly scrutinized for human health impacts, scientists say it also could be altering the wildlife and organisms at the base of the food chain.

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in history. Farmers in 2014 sprayed enough of the chemical to cover every acre of cropland in the entire world with nearly a half-pound of the herbicide, according to a 2016 study published in Environmental Sciences Europe.

Long thought to be relatively benign to non-target plants and animals, evidence is growing that glyphosate, the active ingredient of Roundup, may impact the metabolism, growth and reproduction of aquatic creatures and could be altering the essential gut bacteria of animals such as bees.

Such impacts could have serious unexpected impacts on the tiny critters that form the base of the animal food chain, say environmental researchers, who warn the ecological impacts are likely to grow as glyphosate levels build up in the environment.

"No herbicide in the history of the world has ever been used this heavily. It's a completely unprecedented case," Charles Benbrook, an agricultural economist and author of the 2016 study, told EHN.
Human cancers are not important compared to this.
posted by heatherlogan at 7:06 AM on March 30, 2021 [2 favorites]


GMOs seem like a stand-in for 'US control of your food supply' or worse 'international corporate control of your food supply'; so, it's hardly a surprise that most countries would resist this kind of genetic imperialism, and would prefer not to have to pay royalties to other nations or extranational concerns for their seed stocks. Corn is from Mexico, so, hardly a surprise that corn is so intimately mixed into Mexican nationalism. It's more of a surprise that it is in the US.

In another metafilter we could discuss how the US Farm Bill is so completely broken and affixed to this one corporate vision of centralized Ag, much too focused on exporting corn as a commodity, how the Farm Bureau is the NRA-equivalent for lobbying against water policy in our country, and how these politics are destroying our local seafood industries across the nation with horrid climate pollution, loss of wetlands nationally, and dead zones.

The CF Industries plant in Donaldsonville, LA is the largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide in our state--a larger single source of CO2 than the oil refineries, even--and it pollutes Donaldsonville with toxic levels of ammonia, so that the children have strange skin problems, and strange cancers. It's the largest emitter of Particulate Matter in the area, a pollutant related to increased death rates from COVID-19.

The CF Industries plants, the Monsanto / IMC Agrico / Mosaic petrochemical facilities make up a substantial part of "Cancer Alley" in Louisiana, and contribute greatly to Black poverty in our region. Cancer Alley is overwhelmingly Black, populationwise, but the jobs at these facilities are not distributed in line with the local population living with the air pollution.

I am also looking into the extent to which the plants use prison labor from local Parishes, following the lead of local journalists

Donaldsonville and Yazoo City, MS, the locations of the largest CF Industries plants that fuel the US's petro-agricultural system, are overwhelmingly African American cities, and they have been named the "worst cities in the USA" a few times.

The CF Plants in Illinois, the hub of where the MAP and DAP fertilizers are actually used, in the tile drain agricultural region of the USA called the Midwest, are much smaller, and much whiter. One wonders, then, if the political advantages of polluting African American lungs over other lungs outweigh the logistical advantages of having factories close to where CF's product is deployed.

I would pray that we re-think how we use our soils in the USA, and how we allocate our carbon budget. I think, when you start running the climate numbers, or looking at the racism inherent in US petrochemical production, there emerge many, many advantages to moving away from our monolithic corn-export system for Monsanto / ADM. And many opportunities to develop our own local economies and food sovereignty.

So, the USA could use this as an opportunity to pivot away from Monsanto and CF, considering the direction they are headed, in terms of support for our own democracy, and we could discuss those kind of things here.
posted by eustatic at 1:09 PM on March 30, 2021 [4 favorites]


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