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Cocodrillo rojo . Artwork by Francisco Toledo . Moderator’s Note: Yesterday we posted a letter by Dr. David Schubert , an eminent immunologist from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA. It was addressed to Mexico’s President Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto and explained the scientific evidence and logic that Mexico should consider in moving to adopt policies resulting in a permanent ban on future planting of GMO corn inside Mexican territory. Mexico is one of the world’s principal Vavilov Centers and its indigenous farmers have over thousands of years developed the enormous diversity of more than 60 land race varieties of corn, or Zea mays . Schubert also argues that the place of corn as the definitive staple of the Mexican diet has unique health implications and no one else has ever eaten the amount of GMO corn that would be the case if the transgenic varieties are approved for future planting. To follow-up on yesterday’s post, I am sharing a second letter with a link to a Spanish language web...

Huichol yarn weaving of a sacred ceremony for maize USDA Co-Existence Policy Proposal Statement of Dr. Devon G. Peña The Acequia Institute Submitted to USDA-APHIS | March 4, 2014 I am submitting this statement to express opposition to the proposed USDA co- existence policy. As a plant breeder, seed saver, traditional acequia farmer, and agro-ecologist familiar with the scientific evidence on gene flow I am unequivocally opposed to this policy. Asking for co-existence with GMO crops means seed-savers and plant breeders like myself have to accept the inevitability of severe business losses due to damage to our native seed stocks and active plant breeding programs. I ask that you consider the fact that farmers like myself are the keepers of the nation’s diverse bioregional ‘arks’ of native seeds and these are the ultimate basis of all agriculture in this country. As vulnerable traditional seed savers, we cannot accept co-existence. The scientific fact of gene flow makes it so. Let’s not p...