Glyphosate imports to Mexico from January to July 2021 represented one tenth compared to the same period in 2019, the Mexican government reported.
On December 31, 2020, the Mexican government issued a Presidential Decree declaring the intention to phase out the use of glyphosate and the use of transgenic corn for human consumption.
As of the issuance of that decree, and based on the 2021 import quota issued in the Recommendation of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), the import of 5,092.86 tons of glyphosate was authorized in June 2021, which represented 10.9% compared to the authorized in the same period of 2019.
Before, from September to December 2020, the importation of 32,954 tons of glyphosate was denied, based on the precautionary principle and taking into account the recommendation 82/2018 of the National Human Rights Commission «on highly dangerous pesticides» and the violation of human rights to food, as well as the reclassification of this substance as probable carcinogenic in humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Glyphosate imports
Between September 2020 and June 2021, the government of Mexico worked on the design, structure and construction of the digital platform “Agroecology and the substitution of glyphosate”, which as of June 2021 reported 80% progress.
In general, the objective of the platform is to collect and «disseminate the environmental damage caused by the use of glyphosate», as well as those agroecological alternatives that allow its substitution for sustainable production.
For example, from April 12 to 16, 2021, Agroecology Week was held, oriented towards the gradual elimination of glyphosate; the different experiences of producers, researchers and organizations at the international level, as well as agroecological alternatives of production without the use of glyphosate and agrochemicals, were made known in a virtual way.
With this action, said the government of Mexico, Conacyt promotes actions to strengthen food sovereignty and the gradual elimination of glyphosate in Mexican agriculture and follow up on the provisions of the Presidential Decree published on December 31, 2020 in the newspaper Official of the Federation in which the agencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration are instructed to coordinate, promote and support scientific research, technological developments and innovations that allow them to sustain and propose alternatives to glyphosate.
According to the USTR, Mexico has not notified any action to the Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) nor has it provided an opportunity to comment, nor has it provided scientific evidence of the rejections.
Since August 2018, when a court verdict determined that RoundUp (the most popular glyphosate-based herbicide) was responsible for a man’s terminal cancer, class action lawsuits have started targeting processed food companies.
