The Political Uses of Culture: Maize Production and the GM Corn Debates in Mexico

When evidence of genetically modified (GM) corn was found among the cornfields of highland Oaxaca and the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico the debate over whether, and to what extent, such corn poses a risk to local maize varieties (or landraces and creolized varieties, called criollos in Spanish) ¹ intensified. The likely source of such GM corn is maize imported from the United States for use as animal feed, grain for tortillas, or industrial processing, which made its way to regional markets and rural stores where small-scale Mexican cultivators unknowingly purchased and then planted the grain. ²