"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.

President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party is set to take office on December 1.

Ruiz said he does not expect permits to be approved for four to five months but that the new government led by Pena Nieto is likeminded in its support for the introduction of large-scale GMO corn cultivation in Mexico."

David Alire Garcia and Adriana Barrera report for Reuters November 23, 2012. [2]