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<br /> JAN-23-2668 14:51 From:TROPICRL HRWPIIRN 18089667367 To:9618912 P 2 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> TROPICAL 2006 JAN 23 P~1 2 51 <br /> HAWAIIAN PRODUCTS <br /> <br /> P.:) 13Ux Ft1q <br /> 1 ~i <br /> COUN I -~/f KeaeL. Hvrali 957~9 <br /> Phone (S(E) 966-7435 <br /> TESTIMONY BEFORE THE HAWAII COUNTY COUNCILFax (s(:e~ sss ~3 , <br /> RESOLUTION 462-08 <br /> <br /> <br /> RELATING TO IMPOSING A MORATORIUM OF GENETICALLY <br /> MODIFIED TARO <br /> <br /> PRESENTED BEFORE THE TWENTY-EIGHT SESSION <br /> COUNTY OF HAWAII <br /> January 2008 <br /> <br /> <br /> Dear Chairman Hoffmann and Council Members: <br /> <br /> STRONGLY OPPOSE. <br /> <br /> My name is Loren Mochida, General Manager of Tropical Hawaiian Products <br /> in Keaau, Hawaii. THP is a processor and exporter of Hawaiian Premium papayas <br /> to CONUS and Japan. THP represents over 60 papaya growers that provide the <br /> transgenic "Rainbow" papayas for processing. <br /> <br /> We are strongly opposed to Resolution 462-08, which supports S.B. 958 S.D. 1 11 D <br /> 1 to Impose a Ten-Year Moratorium on Developing, Testing, Propagating, <br /> Cultivating, Growing, and Raising of Genetically Modified (or simply Food <br /> Biotechnology) Taro in the State of Hawaii <br /> <br /> In the early 1990s, papaya growers were devastated by the Papaya Ring-spot Vi-u.; <br /> (PRV), which threatened a way of life for hundreds of farmers in Hawaii. A <br /> transgenic papaya with virus resistance was created by the UH College of Tropical <br /> Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) and Cornell University in New Yorlc. <br /> These transgenic papayas were finally planted in the late 1990s as new varietii+ <br /> named "Rainbow" and "Sunup. Both of these varieties have saved the Hawaiian <br /> papaya industry and have reestablished the grower's papaya farms. The papaya <br /> industry and my packing plant would not be operating today if it were not for <br /> biotechnoCogy. <br />