INIA Disproves Claim of Illegally Planted Transgenic Maize in Peru

Peru's National Institute for Agricultural Innovation (INIA) disproved a study that generated a court case in Peru that claimed the presence of illegally planted transgenic maize in the valley of Pativilca in the Barranca region. Results were presented at the International Forum of Modern Biotechnology in the Agricultural Sector that disproved the findings made by biologist Antonietta Gutierrez, who claimed to have found two types of hard yellow corn resistant to herbicides and certain insects.

Biologist Ernesto Bustamante was sued by Antonietta Gutierrez at the 6th Criminal Court of Lima which found him guilty of the crime of defamation. He expressed satisfaction over the findings noting that INIA proved it is a good regulator agency and is well qualified to sample all areas of the Barranca and Pativilca valleys, despite the refusal of Dr. Gutiérrez to turn over her samples and to indicate the location coordinates of the fields in which she made her study.

The English translation of the original article in Spanish is available at http://www.botanischergarten.ch/Geneflow/INIA-discarded-geneflow-Barranca-EXPRESO-20100622.pdf