Diversity of Corn in Mexico: The Chapela/Quist discovery by YourEnchantedGardener Blog entry

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Diversity of Corn in Mexico: The Chapela/Quist discovery

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DIVERSITY OF CORN IN MEXICO

This is important historic background for educating
Anti GMO Activists

Rogue Corn On the Loose
Risking Corn, Risking Culture
By Claire Hope Cummings

is a Food and Society Policy Fellow, and food and farming editor at KPFK-FM radio in Berkeley, California. She has practiced environmental law and has farmed in both California and Vietnam.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/525

The Chapela/Quist discovery

Dr. Ignacio Chapela is one of two scientists from the University of California, Berkeley who documented the discovery of transgenes in the Mexican native, or criollo, corn grown here. Chapela and his colleague, David Quist, took their samples from Capulalpam, so this remote village is getting more than its fair share of visitors these days. Chapela has worked with the communities in the Sierra Norte for years, but he had not returned to Capulalpam since November 2001, when his report was published in the prestigious journal Nature. I went back to Capulalpam with Dr. Chapela, to talk with farmers and village officials about the impact that transgenic corn is having on their lives, and to explore what it might mean for the rich biodiversity and indigenous cultures of the region.

Dr. Ignacio Chapela is one of two scientists from the University of California, Berkeley who documented the discovery of transgenes in the Mexican native, or criollo, corn grown here. Chapela and his colleague, David Quist, took their samples from Capulalpam, so this remote village is getting more than its fair share of visitors these days. Chapela has worked with the communities in the Sierra Norte for years, but he had not returned to Capulalpam since November 2001, when his report was published in the prestigious journal Nature. I went back to Capulalpam with Dr. Chapela, to talk with farmers and village officials about the impact that transgenic corn is having on their lives, and to explore what it might mean for the rich biodiversity and indigenous cultures of the region.

The Chapela/Quist discovery is the first report of GMO contamination of a major crop at its center of origin. A center of origin contains the early forms of a crop and its wild relatives. It is the gene bank the world depends on to improve and refresh a crop's genetics. Mexico's native corn varieties are a treasure chest of genes useful for breeding plants that can adjust to changing climate, agricultural, and nutritional needs. Scientists worry that if these plants become infected with GMOs, and if the artificial genes persist, they could dangerously contaminate, and possibly wipe out, the natural genetic basis of the world's most important crops. Although they are manufactured, GMOs are living organisms, capable of reproduction. Once released, they are beyond human control. They are a new form of pollution, one that is difficult to detect and completely invisible. Because so little is known, their release is an uncontrolled experiment, which the biochemist Erwin Chargaff, known as the father of molecular biology, has said would constitute "an irreversible attack on the biosphere."

For years, scientists and environmental activists have been warning the Mexican government that GMOs in imported corn could harm Mexico's exceptionally rich biological and cultural diversity. The known risks of GMOs include the creation of hard-to-control weedy relatives of crops through "crop-to-wild hybridization," the development of insect pests or weeds that are resistant to the chemicals used with GMO crops, and the unintentional poisoning of beneficial insects and non-target species (see ∂).is the first report of GMO contamination of a major crop at its center of origin. A center of origin contains the early forms of a crop and its wild relatives. It is the gene bank the world depends on to improve and refresh a crop's genetics. Mexico's native corn varieties are a treasure chest of genes useful for breeding plants that can adjust to changing climate, agricultural, and nutritional needs. Scientists worry that if these plants become infected with GMOs, and if the artificial genes persist, they could dangerously contaminate, and possibly wipe out, the natural genetic basis of the world's most important crops. Although they are manufactured, GMOs are living organisms, capable of reproduction. Once released, they are beyond human control. They are a new form of pollution, one that is difficult to detect and completely invisible. Because so little is known, their release is an uncontrolled experiment, which the biochemist Erwin Chargaff, known as the father of molecular biology, has said would constitute "an irreversible attack on the biosphere."

For years, scientists and environmental activists have been warning the Mexican government that GMOs in imported corn could harm Mexico's exceptionally rich biological and cultural diversity. The known risks of GMOs include the creation of hard-to-control weedy relatives of crops through "crop-to-wild hybridization," the development of insect pests or weeds that are resistant to the chemicals used with GMO crops, and the unintentional poisoning of beneficial insects and non-target species (see ∂).

Corn Legacy

The more than 20,000 distinct varieties of corn still being grown in Mexico and Central America are the legacy of these ancient and sophisticated traditions. Gonzalez says that corn's remarkable diversity can be attributed to the intense emotional and cultural significance that corn has for indigenous farmers. Because they love and respect this "plant-person," he says, they spend more time caring for it, helping it adapt to special ecological niches. Not surprisingly, corn has been called "the most remarkable plant breeding accomplishment of all time." When Columbus arrived in the Americas, says Walton Galinat in Maize: Gift from America's First Peoples, he failed to recognize that "this plant, developed by peoples he judged poor and uncivilized, far outstripped in productivity any of the cereals bred by Old World farmers-wheat, rice, sorghum, barley, and rye." And, he said, "Columbus did not realize that the gift of maize was far more valuable than the spices or gold he hoped to find."

In this current clash of cultures, what could industrialized agriculture learn from traditional corn cultures? The answer lies in the fact that corn reflects the values of the peoples who grow it. Because corn is so adaptable, it becomes what farmers want it to be. In the United States, commodity farmers want corn to be extremely productive and uniform, and so it is. In 1921 the average U.S. yield was about 28 bushels an acre. By 2001, the average yield was 138 bushels an acre. Some top producers could boast yields of over 300 bushels, although this kind of productivity is only achieved by adding enormous amounts of energy in the form of fertilizers and other chemicals. It could be said, then, that GMOs, with their commercial utility, uniformity, and privatized genes, are simply a product of an industrial culture that sees corn as little more than a biological machine, reflecting a culture that values efficient productivity and profitability while fostering farmer dependence on a handful of commercial hybrids.

The traditional farmers of the Sierra Norte, on the other hand, value genetic diversity and independence. They see corn in its ecological context, as a living thing, linked to the environment and to the health of all who depend on it for food. They need corn to grow productively under various stressful conditions. And so it does. These farmers may get lower yields than industrial farmers do, but they do not use vast amounts of chemical inputs, and they are free to save and freely exchange their seed. As a result, they have been able to maintain a high degree of autonomy while sustaining their land-based cultures. That, the village officials in Capulalpam said, is their highest value. And for them, that has been corn's greatest gift. And, Señora Maldonado said, that was why, despite all of her worries, she was going to keep on planting criollo corn.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/525