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By KELIN DILLON

More than two years after former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) issued an executive decree restricting the import of genetically modified yellow corn into Mexico, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies passed an initiative banning the cultivation of GMO corn on the nation’s soil.

According to the reforms proposed by current President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP), corn is an “element of national identity” in Mexico and should therefore be protected by law.

“Corn is an element of national identity, a basic food for the people of Mexico and the basis of the existence of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, which guarantees their independence concerning the ownership of their seeds and the basis of their diet,” read the amendment.

Mexico is notably the native home to 59 of the 64 corn varieties recognized worldwide.

The reform also establishes that corn cultivated in Mexico “must be free of genetic modifications, produced by techniques that overcome the natural barriers of reproduction or recombination with transgenics” and protect native corn from genetic contamination.

Likewise, the use of any GMO corn “must be assessed in terms of legal discussions, and that it does not pose a threat to biosecurity, health and the biocultural heritage of Mexico and its population, in order to guarantee the precautionary principle, biological wealth and avoid the irreversibility of non-natural genetic processes.”

The vote against modified corn, championed by the in-power National Regeneration Movement (Morena), was approved with bipartisan support from Morena’s allies and congressional opposition, excluding the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

For her part, Labor Party (PT) Deputy Lilia Aguilar Gil likened GMO corn to a disease in Mexico’s natural biodiversity.

“If we allow transgenic corn to be planted in this country, what we would be allowing is the contamination of native corn, because whether they like it or not, the air will simply carry the seeds of transgenic corn like a plague to destroy biodiversity in Mexico,” said Aguilar Gil.

Now, the reform will head to the Mexican Senate for a final vote before it enters law.