‘Green Revolution’ research center in Mexico gets money from Gates, Slim for GM seeds

The Washington Post, 2/13/2013

The research center largely responsible for launching the “green revolution” of the 1960s that dramatically raised crop yields is getting support from the world’s richest men to develop genetically-modified seeds to help farmers in the developing world grow more grain in the face of a changing climatic conditions and increased demand.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim donated a total of $25 million to build a new cluster of biotechnology labs at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. The facilities include hothouses “with high-efficiency air particle filters and a water treatment plant to prevent pollen and genetically modified material from escaping to the outdoors,” according to a statement by the billionaires’ foundations.

Read more…

Mexico postpones approval of large-scale GM corn fields

Reuters, 11/22/2012

A top Mexican government official said Thursday that the long-awaited but highly controversial approval of genetically modified (GM) corn fields on a commercial scale will drag into next year.

Mariano Ruiz, a deputy agriculture secretary, said in an interview that the regulatory approval process won’t be finalized under the outgoing government of President Felipe Calderon, but instead will fall to his successor to see through sometime next spring.

Read more…