Corn Class Action Lawsuit: Eight Years in Defense of Our Sacred Corn

**Translated from the original spanish.

By Dr. Mercedes López Martínez, Representative of the Community Plaintiff against GM Corn and Director of Vía Orgánica and Association of Organic Consumers in the CDMX.

We hope that this eighth anniversary of the lawsuit also means the beginning of the end of Bayer-Monsanto and all the transnational corporations that are trying to take over our native corn, developed and preserved by entire generations of peasant families for thousands of years in Mesoamerica.

The Presidential Decree on glyphosate and transgenic corn issued on December 31, 2020 -product of years of work and peasant and civil organization- has contributed to endorse the unavoidable and ethical nature of the class action, whose objective has been, according to our legal team “that the federal courts declare that the release or planting of transgenic corn will damage the human right to biological diversity of native corn of current and future generations; as well as the rights to food, to health”.

This period has been similar to the struggle between David and Goliath, with an unequal combat where we have been able to stagger a giant enemy with our powerful stones that have been the committed action of the people and organizations that are part of the demand, being “at the foot of the cannon” in defense of our native corn and diversity that are an intrinsic part of the cosmogony of our native peoples; The basis of a gastronomy composed of more than six thousand dishes and beverages that have been recognized as intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco; as well as the central axis of an ancestral culture with millenary traditions based on the cornfield and corn.

Eight years may not seem long, but for the 52 people and 22 collectives that signed the lawsuit, it has been a long process with the admission and certification of the lawsuit (overcoming 11 amparo lawsuits filed by Semarnat and the defendant industries). The next steps will include the pleadings, where our evidence and legal arguments will be ordered.

It is worth noting that a fundamental achievement for our class action lawsuit -was and continues to be- a precautionary measure obtained in September 2013, which prohibits the commercial planting of GM corn by court order throughout the country; a measure before which the defendant companies (Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Agrosciences and PHI Mexico) have filed challenges to revoke it. Currently, the last four amparo suits are in the process of being resolved and studied by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

This precautionary measure has been fundamental to defend and preserve our 64 breeds and thousands of varieties of native corn and prevent them from being contaminated by the massive planting of transgenic corn that Felipe Calderón had agreed with Monsanto since 2012 and that Enrique Peña Nieto was about to grant permission in July 2013, both in complicity with the voracious companies.

Several investigations have proven that some of the reasons for the contamination of traditional crops by genetically modified organisms in the open air is the wind pollination and the action of pollinating insects, so that if this planting had not been stopped through the precautionary measure, today we would be lamenting the irreversible loss of our ancestral corn and the milpa, an ancestral holistic system of planting and feeding.

Had it not been for this precautionary measure we would have already lost our tlayudas, quesadillas, sopes, huaraches, tlacoyos, pozoles (white, green and red), snacks (tortilla chips and tostadas), atoles, tamales, popcorn, corn (with chile, mayonnaise and cheese or just with lemon and chile), esquites, our wonderful tortillas (white, blue and red), corn cookies, pinole, corundas, uchepos, soups, broths, among other dishes.

Imagine a day, just a day in Mexico and Mesoamerica without these wonderful dishes, it would be a tragedy!

Not to mention foods from the various milpas such as huitlacoche, quelites (purslane, quintoniles, huazontle, turnips, romeritos), chayotes, pumpkins, chili peppers, tomatoes, beans, tomatoes, medicinal plants (chamomile, lavender, lemon tea, rue), which would disappear due to the use of glyphosate, a carcinogenic herbicide that not only kills everything that is not a genetically modified crop, but also affects people, contaminates the soil and water, and negatively impacts pollinating insects.

At this point for the plaintiff community the road continues and perhaps will continue to be a long one, since the lawsuit has not entered the bottom of the discussion; however we continue and will continue as an articulate, proactive and committed community, defending the legacy of our ancestors.

In this account, it is important to honor the memory of the pioneers in the promotion of this demand, who continue to support others in such a noble and unquestionable task as the defense of our biodiversity and corn, as the nation’s center of origin and diversification.

A collectivity demanding “chili, sweet and butter” that is proactive, profound and as rich and multifaceted as our corn, made up of peasant, native, artistic, academic, environmental, consumer and university communities. And above all, by a legal team that, from a young, fresh and committed vision, is always on the lookout for the legal developments of the lawsuit.

Eight years are not long, but it has been a permanent collective task of lobbying, fundraising, positioning in the media, visits to the courts, talks and national and international press conferences, public events, the incorporation of Corn Day (September 29) in the national ephemeris; because we have had days, months and years of solidarity, joy, commitment and determination, but also sad moments when they have tried to reverse the injunction, without succeeding.

Because without corn there is no country. Because we continue making milpa and defending our cultural and biological heritage; because we are right and we have the support and knowledge of hundreds of generations of farmers in Mesoamerica.

Let us continue to be an exemplary community for Mexico and the world. We are sure to win this lawsuit -together with the peasant communities and native peoples who continue to preserve our wonderful corn of all colors, sizes and uses- so let’s continue to make milpa.

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