After a 4-year Legal Battle, Monsanto Drops Lawsuit Against Mexico’s GM Corn Ban
June 28, 2024 | Source: Mexico News Daily | by MND Staff
In what is being called a significant victory for Mexico, Monsanto has withdrawn its legal challenge against the 2020 presidential decree aimed at banning glyphosate and genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption.
The National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt) heralded the decision as “a triumph for life, health and food sovereignty.”
Monsanto’s subsidiaries, Semillas y Agroproductos Monsanto and Monsanto Comercial, ratified their withdrawal on June 25.
Monsanto produces the herbicide Roundup, one of several glyphosate-based products that are used in the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) such as Roundup Ready corn, cotton and soybeans. A common genetic modification makes crops resistant to glyphosate, allowing farmers to apply large amounts of the weed-killer to GMO crops.
The legal battle was initiated in response to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s 2020 decree to ban the widely used but controversial herbicide, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified as a “probable carcinogen,” though its safety remains a subject of debate.
The battle included over 30 amparo (judicial protective order) suits aiming to declare the decree unconstitutional. In July 2022, for example, Bayer, which acquired Monsanto six years ago, obtained a court order against the application of the decree.
