Mexico Delaying GMO Corn Import Approval Applications by Up to Two Years

Even though Mexico’s national ban on GM corn imports is not set to go into effect until 2024, the country has begun delaying import permits for GM corn by as much as two years, according to Juan Cortina Gallardo, president, National Agricultural Council.

Amid the scores of agricultural product import permits awaiting approval, there are at least eight for GM corn being delayed, along with other permits for shipments of glyphosate.

Gallardo said that COFEPRIS, Mexico’s federal health risk regulating body, is effectively moving forward the ban through these delays, adding that the country’s farming industry will fight the legislation, which will probably end up in the Supreme Court.

In March of this year, Mexico’s secretary of agriculture Victor Villalobos gave U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack assurances that the ban would not extend to GM corn used for animal feed, however Gallardo stated that he has not received any such assurances.

More on this story