Mexico recently announced that it will ban glyphosate for domestic production and also imports of GMO corn, which are a big component of their livestock industry. Is Mexico's policy, enacted by Pres. Lopez-Obrador (popularly called AMLO) just more clueless populism?
This picture shows the President of Mexico with the "magic amulets" he used to protect himself from COVID. While fortunately he seems to have made a recovery, it will probably not come as a surprise to learn that the protection they provided him was somewhat lacking.
It is easy lampoon someone like AMLO: are his beliefs about GMOs equally nuts?
On the one hand Mexico is home to an incredible wealth of biodiversity in terms of corn; on the other hand, the livestock trade is big in Mexico, and feed (mostly GMO corn) is mostly imported from the US. Will they shut down all of that? If they do, the economic repercussions are likely to be considerable. The same actually may not be true of glyphosate: although Bayer (the producer) is on the hook for over $11.5 billion to claimants alleging that they got cancer from the herbicide, revenue from its sale is over $8 billion per year (PER YEAR!) with forecasts of as much as $13 billion in 2027. Translation? Cancer shmancer. Other commentators continue to argue that the cancer scare is bogus.
Well, the market thinks that we should keep using the product. While the profits are surely poorly distributed, meaning that as monopolists they will surely take more than their share, actually that might mean a drop in use compared to the regular market outcome.
Finally, I wonder if this will continue: for example Germany appears poised to ban the use of the herbicide. Mexico's ban is sure to be tested in court. We'll see how things shake out!
