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National Geographic : 1993 Jun
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called high-fructose corn syrup, destined for Smucker's preserves, RC Cola, and Coca Cola. Converted from cornstarch with a spe cial enzyme, the high-fructose syrup is sweeter than sugar. Its extra sweetness and its price just below sugar's-have led all the major soft drink companies to use it. High-fructose corn syrup is a multibillion-dollar business and the main reason corn sweeteners control 53 per cent of the U. S. sweetener market. To see Maya Indians working hardscrabble corn plots as they have for centuries, I traveled to Chiapas in southeast Mexico. Newspapers in Mexico City had recently announced, Corn, the Golden Grain "Mexico Is Self-Sufficient in Maize After 20 Years!" But in the mountainous rain forests this self sufficiency is exacting an environmental price. Large ranches and agribusinesses have forced landless peasants from the flatlands onto frag ile mountain slopes. With no other recourse, the peasants depend heavily on maize. "Maize is our blood," says Miguel Solis, a 26-year-old farmer from the village of Salto de Agua. "Without it we cannot live." The farmers' reliance on maize often puts them at odds with a government caught be tween either feeding its own people or saving 105
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