The Mexican government has published a decree establishing various actions on glyphosate and genetically modified maize, and repeals the decree of December 2020 (see AgbioNews Dec 15, 2020), whereby both the herbicide glyphosate and genetically modified (GM) maize for human consumption would be phased-out over a 4-year period.

The key details of the decree are:

• The decree is strictly limited to maize.
• To avoid confusion, a categorisation of maize is established according to its use: human food (dough and tortilla), fodder and industrialised human food.
• The Decree prohibits the use of genetically modified maize domestically for dough and tortillas. This will not impact trade or imports as Mexico is self-sufficient in the production of white maize free of transgenics.
• As for the use of genetically modified maize for fodder and industry, the deadline to prohibit its use is eliminated, being subject to sufficient supply. Working groups will be set up with the national and international private sectors to achieve an orderly transition.
• It was explicitly established that Cofepris, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks, will conduct scientific research on the potential impacts of genetically modified maize on people's health. Such studies will be conducted with health agencies in other countries.

This new version of the decree provides clarity in its objectives and regulatory certainty based on technical-scientific evidence, and reiterates Mexico’s commitment to comply with the USMCA.