COM 0271.146 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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welfare of our people, farms, environment, and economy. A decision to release transgenic organisms into our farms, ecosystems, and economy must not be made by just a few private biotechnology corporations, but instead must be a public decision, decided after rigorous public scientific review and extensive public debate within the impacted communities; (10) The council is aware that the State of Hawai`i has not established a regulatory structure in place to monitor where or which transgenic crops are grown, or what their short- or long-term impacts may be on public, environmental or agricultural economic health; (11) The council therefore believes that unless a particular agricultural product is shown to be in imminent danger of extinction without gene interference, that our natural produce and environment should be supported and conserved. The council acknowledges that papaya was in imminent danger of extinction and for that reason genetically modified papaya were introduced; (12) The council is aware that the international demand for GMO papaya and other GMO crops is far more limited than in the case of non-GMO products; (13) The council believes that whereas the government is generally responsive to acute problems, we must be mindful as leaders in our community to also be on guard against the cumulative negative impact of the overall increase in toxins on ourselves, our children, and on future generations, that may well have a long-term impact on the health of our people and our environment; (14) The council believes that pursuing an agricultural policy that promotes local non- GMO produce provides a unique economic opportunity to capture a niche market for non-GMO produce and meats. Optimizing this opportunity is consistent with the Hawai`i County General Plan, which provides as one of its economic goals (Economic policies 2.2(h)): "Promote and develop the island of Hawai`i into a unique scientific and cultural model, where economic gains are in balance with social and physical amenities. Development should be reviewed on the basis of total impact on the residents of the County, not only in terms of immediate short run economic benefits."; (15) The council seeks to prevent national and international market losses for products from Hawai`i County's farms and fisheries, which would likely result from genetic contamination by transgenic organisms of our fresh produce, fruit crops, wild caught fish, and our value-added agricultural products such as coffee, kalo,juices, and processed foods; (16) The council seeks to protect the right to farm, so that those farmers who choose to farm without transgenic crop varieties can do so without having their crops and seed stocks genetically contaminated by pollen or seed brought by wind, insects, birds, animals, water, vehicles, farm machinery, clothing, or in any other manner from 3