This book analyses the importance of maize world-wide and the special importance for Mexico as a centre of origin and diversity (COD). By adopting a comparative approach, the analysis focuses on how developed and developing countries handle imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The book also analyses the impact that genetically modified maize imports from the United States might have in Mexico as a COD of maize. This book illustrates the process of economic liberalisation in Mexico from the 1980s until the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, and provides descriptive and analytical insight into the Mexican legal framework of biotechnology and biosafety, including complying with both international environmental and trade commitments.