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CEC wants to control issue of transgenic pollution in Mexico



The Commission for Environmental Cooperation is a bureaucracy spawned by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The group was formed with the sole purpose of adjudicating problems associated with cross boarder environmental issues. Under NAFTA rules tribunals have been set up to deal with particular environmental problems. For example, tribunals have awarded damages in the $billion to a corporation which wished to distribute a polluting gasoline additive in Canada because the additive was banned and such tribunals have have awarded damages to firms that wished to incinerate toxic wastes in Canada and Mexico but were refused by the countries. Heretofore the commission tribunals have been a gold mine for greedy american lawyers who spread pollution north and south of USA. If CEC runs true to form they will likely impose sanctions against Mexico for use of patented corn genes. The "expert" panel put together to deal with the spread of transgenes to Mexican corn is notable for excluding the investigators, such as Dr. David Quist, who published the original finding on spread of trangenes to Mexican corn. All of the original investigators should have been included the original investigators. Currently the panel appears to be weighed down by fatuous academic bureaucrats who mindlessly promote american transgenic crops. The panel seems the first step along tribunal path which seems to be a mechanism for imposing American pollution on all North America and making Canada and Mexico pay them for the injury. I hope that others will contact CEC to express concern that the original investigators were not included on their "expert" panel.

Advisory group named to CEC study on genetic diversity of maize in Mexico

Montreal, 7 October 2002 -- The 16-member advisory group that will work with the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to examine issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of traditional maize varieties in Mexico was announced today by the CEC Secretariat.

In June, the CEC Secretariat informed the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States--the three partners to the North American Free Trade Agreement--that it would prepare a special report on the potential effects of transgenic corn on traditional maize varieties in Mexico. Authority for the study comes from Article 13 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the environmental side accord to NAFTA.

The effects of transgenic varieties on maize in Mexico--the crop's center of origin--have been a source of public concern and the CEC Secretariat has received numerous requests to initiate this analysis.

The advisory group, chaired by Dr. José Sarukhán, senior professor of ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-UNAM), and Rapporteur of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, includes a distinguished group of experts encompassing the fields of ecology, biotechnology, law, economics and public policy:

*  David Andow, University of Minnesota, United States
* Mindahi Crescencio Bastida-Muñoz, Consejo Mexicano para el Desarrollo Sustentable and member of the CEC Joint Public Advisory Committee, Mexico
*  Andrew Baum, SemBioSys Genetics Inc., Calgary, Canada
* Susan Bragdon, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, United States
*  Conrad Brunk, University of Victoria, Canada
* Donald Doering, Worldadjuticating Resources Institute, Washington, DC, United States
*  Norman Ellstrand, University of California at Riverside, United States
*  Amanda Gálvez, UNAM, Mexico
* Luis Herrera Estrella, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico
*  Julian Kinderlerer, University of Sheffield, England
*  Peter Phillips, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
*  Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Gardens, United States
*  Allison A. Snow, Ohio State University, United States
*  José Luis Solleiro Rebolledo, Agrobio, Mexico
*  Victor Manuel Toledo, UNAM, Mexico

The advisory group will guide the CEC Secretariat's examination of this issue and will participate in the development of the special report to the Council of the CEC, including whatever recommendations the advisory group may wish to make.

As with other reports initiated by the CEC Secretariat under NAAEC's Article 13, the maize study will include input from prominent international and national groups, sector organizations, the private sector, interested members of the public, as well as the three NAAEC parties. Public input will be solicited throughout the study process, including a symposium planned for Mexico in 2003.

The Secretariat's report is expected in early 2004.

The CEC was established by Canada, Mexico and the United States to build cooperation among the three partners in implementing NAFTA's environmental accord. The CEC addresses environmental issues of continental concern, with particular attention to the environmental challenges and opportunities presented by continent-wide free trade.

Commission for Environmental Cooperation
393, rue Saint-Jacques Ouest, Bureau 200
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2Y 1N9
Tel: (514) 350-4300; Fax: (514) 350-4314
E-mail: info@ccemtl.org
Web site: http://www.cec.org
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