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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0491.070 2020-2022 bill q Comm.qq I From: Megan Lamson Leatherman Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2021 10:23 AM To: Council Testimony Cc: Villegas, Rebecca; Chung, Aaron; David, Maile; Kimball, Heather; Inaba, Holeka; Richards, Tim; Kierkiewicz, Ashley; Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Matt; Lee Loy, Sue Subject: Re: Support for Bill 19 (C491)j(C491.62) - Testimony for COH Council Meeting on Wed Dec 8th and RAWA! E kalamai, this testimony is in regards to Bill g (not 19!). Apparently I need a little more coffee this Tuesday mornin' ;) I Mahalo for the reply and insight, Councilman Inaba. Hoe you all have a productive da at t o tee p y P y meetings! d M On Tue, Dec 7, 2021 at 10:12 AM Megan Lamson Leatherman wrote: Aloha Hawaii County Council Members, I stand by my testimony from the committee hearing on Bill 19 (C491) in FULL SUPPORT of this initiative to reduce the use of toxic glyphosate pesticides in County Parks and properties, and I am fine with the amendments as proposed. I strongly encourage each of you to pass this first reading at the full Council hearing tomorrow. I am copying my previous testimony below in case you missed it the first time around. Mahalo in advance for choosing to put people and the environment over industry and political pressure! From my experience, it's always best to use the precautionary principle when the health of our families and neighbors are at stake (and especially in regards to more vulnerable populations like kids and animals that cannot stick up for themselves). As was learned from Rachel Carson's book"Silent Spring", sometimes the "easiest"things to use for pest control aren't necessarily the "best" in the long run, and the ramifications of past errors like using DDT are still impacting some wildlife and human communities around the globe. Also, on another very important and time-sensitive topic: If any of you have friends within the U.S. Senate, I humbly request that you reach out to them ASAP about supporting the Recovering America's Wildlife Act during the hearing scheduled tomorrow in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. More info here and here. This legislation may be the single-most important thing for Hawai`i's wildlife in the current congressional session! Mahalo nui for your time and consideration! And BIG mahalo to Councilwoman Villegas for introducing this legislation! Best, Megan Support for Bill 19 (C491 ) - Testimony for the County's CLIMATE RESILIENCE & NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Committee on Wed Nov 17th @ 2PM qA s Ref. sate DEC - 8 2021 I I Inbox Megan Lamson Leatherman to council testimony, Rebecca, Heather Aloha Chair Villegas,Vice Chair Kimball, and members of the County Committee on Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Management, I am sending this letter in FULL SUPPORT of the proposed Bill 91,that would prohibit the use of any glyphosate-based pesticides at any County Park or facility. There has been much debate over the years about potential human and environmental impacts of this type of herbicide,but come to find that some of the studies finding little to no"damage"were funded by the chemical industry and makers of these products. However, there is a mounting body of evidence that this is not the case and that glyphosate presents hazards to both the applicator and to the environment and ecosystems to where it is applied. Here are a few recent publications from a quick literature search, showing results in both directions: - Bruggen et al. (2018): "Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate"avail here: https://doi.org/lo.iol6`/j.scitotenv.2017.10J309 - Caiati et al (2020): "The Herbicide Glyphosate and Its Apparently Controversial Effect on Human Health:An Updated Clinical Perspective" avail here: https:/Idoi.org/10.2174/"`1871.-).,io.,ilc)6661olol.51c)1614 - Meftaul et al. (2020): "Controversies over human health and ecological impacts of glyphosate: Is it to be banned in modern agriculture?"avail here:https://hh-ra.org/wp-content/uploads/Meftaul-Controversies- over-human-health-and-ec.pdf Regardless, should we not be using the "precautionary"principle when it comes to the safety of our island community and ecosystems, and not apply chemical products until they are proven innocent, versus the other way around? Did we not learn our lessons with"Silent Spring"and the DDT issues over 50 years ago?! As a Hawaii Department of Agriculture certified commercial pesticide applicator(for ecological restoration purposes), I am all too familiar with the importance of reading the labels on all chemical products. In fact,it's a law. However,not everyone who applies pesticides is following the labels to the tee, and inactive ingredients in any product are not required to be listed. For example, I am including a random glyphosate-based pesticide label (RoundUp Pro, a Monsanto product)with this email and copying some of the warning label here for your info here below. For one, Glyphosate is listed as the only active ingredient(41% of the product) and the majority of the composition is "other products" (59%), including surfactants. Only the dangers of the active ingredients are required to be listed in the labels, even if some of the inactive ingredients may well be listed on other pesticide MSDS labels. From Section 3.o Precautionary Statements,the 3.1 Hazards to Humans and Domestic Animals section notes of all the required PPE(Personal Protective Equipment). These rules require handles to wear long-sleeved clothing and pants, shoes and socks both. They also instruct washing of laundry worn during application to be done separately from other clothing with detergent and hot water and to "discard clothing or absorbent materials that have been drenched or heavily contaminated with this product's concentrate. Do not reuse them." Does this sound like something our County workers (and contractors) should be exposed to? Not to mention their families at home. Furthermore,under the"User Safety Recommendations"box it notes that users should: "Wash hands before eating, drinking, chewing gum,using tobacco, or using the toilet"and"Remove clothing immediately if pesticide gets inside. Then wash thoroughly and put on clean clothing". Also, not all County workers (or contractors)have the ability to wash hands while on the job at our beach parks and facilities. In the next section, 3.2 Environmental Hazards it instructs applicators "Do not apply directly to water,to areas where surface water is present or to intertidal areas below the mean high water mark. Do not contaminate water when cleaning equipment or disposing of equipment washwaters"which supports the notion that these types of pesticides should absolutely never be applied near a water body(whether that be an estuary, anchialine pool, or the ocean), like at a public beach park. 2 I recognize that this bill is a watered-down version of what we had hoped for in the recent past,but it's a step in the right direction of ridding our island ecosystems (and communities) of one more frightening synthetic chemical that is ultimately doing more harm than good. Mahalo nui for your time and consideration on this matter. Sincerely, Megan Lamson Leatherman Honalo, HI Megan R. Lamson Leatherman, M.S. Residence: Honalo, Hawaii 3