GM corn confirmed 7/23/2009 Government is analyzing data showing transgenic corn in five key valleys.

Peru´s government is reviewing a study that shows genetically-modified corn has been detected in five key agricultural valleys. Peru´s decade-old biosafety law still lacks the supplemental legislation required to empower the government, particularly health and agricultural authorities, to regulate genetically-modified products is still pending.

Currently, genetically-modified products in Peru, a signatory of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety cannot be planted, harvested or sold, because of the legislative void, even though there is no established penalty for doing so.

In a report published by El Comercio newspaper on July 13, said the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation, or INIA, a branch of the Agriculture Ministry that is tasked with supervising the entry and sale of transgenic products in Peru, is evaluating the study by Antonietta Gutiérrez, a biosafety expert at the Agrarian University of La Molina.

In the study, Gutiérrez, who has studied genetically-modified organisms for some 15 years, examined 319 samples from dried corn storage centers in five regions — the northern Piura, Lambayeque and La Libertad departments, and the central-coastal Ancash and Lima departments.

She found genetically-modified corn in five major Peruvian valleys, particularly in the Barranca Valley, north of the capital. Two varieties included  MON863 and MON810, produced by Monsanto, the world´s largest seed producer.

Most of Peru´s imported corn comes from Argentina and the United States. A free trade agreement with the United States went into effect on Feb. 1, worrying some about a flood of genetically-modified corn entering Peru, fears partly based on the infiltration of transgenic corn in Mexico, where corn is the most important crop.

Still, if the government does back Gutiérrez’s findings, it does not yet have the authority to take action.

“If the presence of transgenic corn is proved in Barranca, INIA will be limited to exercise its legal authority because it we still do not have regulations,” Susi Salazar, an Agriculture Ministry agronomist was quoted as saying in the report.
—Latinamerica Press.