Most corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified to tolerate the spraying of glyphosate-based herbicides. These herbicides are linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and other health concerns. Mexico banned genetically modified (GM) corn from use in tortillas in 2023.
The US challenged the policy as an unfair trade practice, claiming Mexico’s precautionary policies were not based on science. In response, Mexico’s national science agency compiled one of the most comprehensive and thorough reviews to date of current scientific evidence showing health risks associated with production and consumption of the most widely grown crop in the U.S.
In this webinar, the former director of Mexico’s National Council for Humanities, Science and Technology and the agency’s lead researcher on the topic will present Mexico’s recently released scientific review document. The evidence draws on recent literature to make the case that there are unacceptable health risks from GM corn and glyphosate for Mexican people who consume large quantities of minimally processed corn in food products such as tortillas.
Dr. Elena Álvarez-Buylla, who directed the national science agency for six years, will outline the research carried out to underpin Mexico’s 2023 decree to restrict the use of GM corn in tortillas and other minimally processed corn products, and to phase out the use of glyphosate.
Erica Hagman Aguilar will present the key findings from the well-referenced 200-page science dossier, which was recently translated into English.
This webinar will be moderated by researcher and writer Timothy A. Wise, and will be presented with simultaneous English/Spanish interpretation.
The discussion is co-sponsored by U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit public health research group.
Featured Speakers
Dr. Elena Álvarez-Buylla is a professor of molecular genetics, epigenetics, and development at Mexico's National Autonomous University. Until the end of September 2024, Dr. Álvarez-Buylla was the head of Mexico's national science agency, CONAHCYT, the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology. During her six-year term, her agency was charged with documenting the scientific evidence of the risks to human health and the environment of GM corn and glyphosate. That research led to Mexico's precautionary policies to eliminate the use of GM corn in tortillas and to phase out the use of glyphosate. When the U.S. government challenged those measures as unfair trade practices, her agency provided the science the Mexican government used in its defense in the formal trade dispute.
Erica L. Hagman Aguilar is a biologist with a masters degree in human rights. She was responsible for public policies and regulations at Mexico’s biosafety agency and the specialist who coordinated research on GM corn and glyphosate within CONAHCYT. That research was presented in the formal submissions in the trade dispute with the United States in 2024. She was a coauthor and helped coordinate the compilation of that evidence into the Scientific Dossier on Genetically Modified Corn and its Effects, which may be the most comprehensive presentation to date of the scientific evidence on the subject.
Timothy A. Wise is a Tufts University researcher and an investigative journalist with U.S. Right to Know. He is the author of the 2019 book Eating Tomorrow and he has closely followed Mexico’s decades-long struggles against GM corn.