COM 0882.029 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Good Morning Council Members. My name is Merle Hayward and I am speaking in support of Resolution 462-08. Enough time has passed to enable us to observe the effects of GMOs. In 2002, the National Academy of Science criticized the US Department of Agriculture in 2002 for saying there is "no evidence of harm" to imply the environmental safety of GMOs, because the NAS found no evidence of USDA environmental monitoring. This is important because the National Research Council of the NAS contends that small genetic changes have substantial environmental consequences that are unintended, and that there is no difference in environmental hazard between introducing GMO traits or invasive species to a local ecosystem. There can be no claim of safety without regulatory monitoring. There can be no claim of safety without food labeling. Please remember this the next time you are told by a GMO supporter that safety is a done deal. In 2005, the USDA's own Inspector General issued a scathing critique of the USDA's regulation of biopharmaceutical and other GMO crops stating that the USDA continues to neglect its regulatory duties. A case cannot be made that GMOs are strictly approved or regulated by governmental agencies. On the mainland, contamination has occurred in canola, corn, soy, and in 2006, long grain rice, causing economic losses in the billions of dollars. In Hawaii, the GMO papaya is a good example of what happens when a GMO is introduced into a local ecosystem. GMO papaya is wiping out organic and conventional papaya through contamination. Independent DNA lab tests indicated that 50% of a sample of back yard, organic, wild, and non-GMO papaya on the Big Island was contaminated. The attached Honolulu Advertiser and National Agriculture Statistics show that current papaya production is the lowest since 1980, before the GMO papaya was introduced in 1998, and continues to decline. Japan used to buy 60% of Hawaii's papaya, but it will not buy GMO papaya. Today, it is difficult to find non-GMO Kapoho Solo papaya at the market and taxpayers are paying the bill for the expensive batch testing and certification Kapoho Solo growers must do to sell their non-GMO papayas to Japan. There will be no biodiversity or choice when the only food crops left are those contaminated by GMOs. Please vote for sustainability and societal and environmental concerns to protect taro from this fate. Thank you.