Mexican government officials are preparing to delve into the thorny issues of biosecurity and genetically modified foods, prompting calls for caution from environmental advocates. Comprehensive biosecurity legislation to regulate the importation, distribution, sales, testing and sowing of genetically altered products is being prepared in the Mexican Senate, which has invited the public, the scientific community and agro-industry representatives to comment on the draft bill. Meanwhile, the Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (Semarnat) and the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Sagarpa) are readying a separate, more narrowly focused norm, called NOM-FITO/ECOL-2002, that for the first time would permit commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops in Mexico and establish ground rules for its regulation. Mexico, like Brazil, currently allows... [Log in to read more]