Monsanto out for good? Maybe

Via Regeneration, May 11, 2017. –

In an ongoing case, the Mexican Supreme Court (SCJN) has refused to accept an amparo (injunction) from the lower courts which sought to allow Monsanto to market transgenic maize, initially halted in 2013.

In moving forward, a decision regarding the issue will be based on an earlier civil court decision in favor of four original plaintiffs who sought to prevent the Monsanto sales.  In that 2013 ruling, the court halted transgenic maize sales in Mexico as a precautionary measure.  However, in August 2015, another court overturned that decision on the grounds that there was no scientific evidence that trangenic maize was  the marketing of transgenic maize in Mexico as a precautionary measure; But by August 2015, a court overturned this measure on the grounds that there is no scientific evidence to support claims that the transgenic maize endangered the plaintiffs. 

Following an appeal by the plaintiffs, in something of a half-victory for Monsanto, Circuit court judge Benjamin Sota modified the originaln injunction to allow Monsanto to continue “pilot programs”, under authorization from the Federal government.  Seeking to expand beyond the pilot programs, Monsanto went to Supreme Court, where Soto’s compromise that allowed Monsanto to continue planting trangenic maize was rejected.

The only guide for how the Supreme Court is likely to rule is from a previous case relating to soya plantings.  However, the arguments in that case turned on consultations with affected indigenous communities rather than the scientific issues related to transgenic seeds and environmental impact.