Last year the government banned genetically modified corn experiments in laboratories and greenhouses in an attempt to prevent its potential threats to wild corn species.
Corn is a staple food of the Mexican population's diet.
Scientists from Conabio and from the National Commission on Science and Technology warned that, in addition to suspending tests on genetically modified corn, control over corn imports from the United States must be reinforced. A joint study by the two organisations concluded that the introduction of genetically altered corn into Mexican fields is a major threat to their unique corn varieties. In 1998, Mexico imported five million tonnes of U.S. corn, which was sold without separating out the genetically altered grain and faced the strong protests of national and international environmental groups, such as Greenpeace. After 25 years of research, the Centre for Improved Corn and Wheat developed what it calls high-protein corn, a new hybrid with nearly double the nutritional content of what a normal corn variety supplies. The cultivation of genetically modified seeds would alter the balance between wild and commercial corn varieties, a genetic resource in Mexico which includes hundreds of native varieties, such as Teocintle, said the Mexican scientists.