“Commercial interests” after glyphosate; it is gradually eliminated, affirms AMLO

Alonso Urrutia and Arturo Sanchez

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, November 23, 2022, p. 9

The federal government promotes the gradual elimination of glyphosate in agriculture, as it is a herbicide with a proven negative impact on health, and commissioned the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) to investigate options for natural products that are not harmful, the government said yesterday. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

He admitted that there a very complex and special situation, since the use of this fertilizer has commercial reasons. He highlighted that in Mexico its use has been limited, but it cannot be eliminated suddenly in the short term, because alternatives are required.

It is possible, he said, that the machete and the tarpala (shovel to clear land) are used more, as before, manual, but this is no longer effective for commercial agriculture of large areas, they complain that there are not enough day laborers.

He stressed that in past administrations, Conacyt was in favor of the use of glyphosate, but in this government the role of this institution has changed, because it had reached the end that your budget was used to support transnational companies in research, many of which are harmful to health.

In this six-year term, he recalled, Conacyt participated in the development of ventilators to deal with the pandemic and is still working on the Patria vaccine against covid. The conservatives and those who manage the pharmaceutical companies are already demanding an account, but the Conacyt is doing that, which it did not do before.

The federal president stressed that despite the fact that there is pressure for Mexico to accept the import of yellow corn for human consumption, his administration will not give in, because it is a product that has the possibility of being transgenic, which is why in the country it is only used as forage.

The Mexican government has already informed the US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, of this position, he said.

Although senators from the neighboring country come to increase pressure on the consumption of yellow corn, Mexico will ratify its refusal, assured the President. He stressed that national policies are decided here. We are not going to the United States to tell them what they are going to eat, we are not telling them: stop eating hamburgers, cakes are better.

Questioned about the alleged increase in the number of poor people during his government, he humorously pointed out that he has other data.

The president appealed to the latest survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) on income-expense. If in 2018 the difference between those who have the most and the most disadvantaged was 18 times, currently it is 16, the president highlighted.

According to the Inegi, he explained, the quarterly income of the elderly went from 12,420 pesos to 13,586 pesos, while among the indigenous population it went from 8,887 to 10,057 pesos in the same period.