HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0728.034 2000-2002 Aloha
Here is a viewpoint article I have written upon~~eturning
home from the conference of Biotechnology at UH`-Manoa,
several weeks ago. I was fortunate enough to be asked to
speak, as a concerned citizen/organic farmer. below is my
backgound. Please call me home at 322-2801 if you have
any questions concerning these viewpoints. I believe this
is an issue which deserves public attention, explorations,
and education. It is a complex issue but one which will
have great impact on our health and environment.
My biographical information.
After college I took a public elementary school
teacher/science specialist position with Fountain Valley
School District in Orange County, California. Ten years
later I moved to Kona, became a small business owner, The
Greenhouse Nursery (Pottery Terrace) and Innerscapes,
plant leasing and maintenance. I taught in the Waldorf
School kindergarten for 9 years, 7 years as the grade
school gardening teacher, developing a gardening
curriculum for grades K-8. I left teaching in 2000 to
build a small demonstration/educational/experimental farm
in Honalo. Co-founded Biodynamics Hawaii. Co-founded
Hawaii Genetic engineering Action Network, (GEAN), a
chapter of National GEAN. I remain dedicated to a
sustainable future for Hawaii based on sound agricultural
practices, which promote human and environmental health.
Malama Ka Aina,
Nancy Redfeather
Kawanui Farm
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Viewpoint
1 recently spent a lazy sumQner afternoon in the Kailua
library reference room reading the 427 pages of text and
maps comprising the Hawaii County General Plan. I was
heartened to read that the County of Hawaii pledges in
many separate statements that environmental quality for
our island home is a priority. ~t vows to take
"precautions and safeguards necessary to maintain and
improve the quality of the environment for the physical,
psychological, and social well-being of residents and
visitors." Hawaii County supports diversified
agriculture, small family farms, agrotourism, and
protection of agriculturally zoned lands. °°The
agricultural industry depends upon clean soil, water and
air. The quality of the land equals the quality of life."
These and other statements encouraged me to believe that
the creators of this document are ready to stand behind
the Hawaii State Motto, Ua mau ke ea o ka sine i ka pono
(May the life of the hand be perpetuated with what is
right.)
Over the past few years it has increasingly coins to my
attention through various media and reference sources that
large multinational Agri®Business corporations such as
Monsanto, Pioneer Hybrid (Dupont), Dow, Synenta, and
others along with various universities around the country
have been attracted to our islands bringing with them the
business of the genetic engineering of plants, food, and
pharmaceuticals. Hawaii ranks first in the nation in the
number of open air field releases of genetically
engineered organisms. Here we have a 12 month growing
season, adequate soil and water, and a supportive state
government and University creating a welcome environment
for field tests and environmental releases of GM®'s. but
just what is genetic engineering anyway?
The business of genetic engineering is the practice of
altering or disrupting the genetic blueprint of living
organisms, including plants, animals, micro-organisms, and
humans then patenting these altered genes and selling the
resulting gene foods, seeds, or pharmaceutical products.
Various methods using gene guns, bacteria, chemicals, and
viruses are used to facilitate the transfer of genetic
material between cells of species that would never be able
to breed or propagate in any natural environment. The
genetic engineering of plants is not traditional plant
breeding. Nature has created extensive barriers to
prevent such intrusion. ~Tust because we have discovered
how to mate unlike species at the molecular level or
smuggle genes from one organism to another using bacteria
or gene guns doesn't mean we should.
The genetic engineering of plants requires testing these
novel new plant combinations in the field. There have
been over x.400 test sites and environmental releases of
GP+!®'s here in the Hawaiian Islands since 1988. The
location of these sites is confidential business
information (CBI), and it is extremely difficult for
farmers, gardeners, or concerned citizens to locate these
sites. Yet, the release of novel plant pollens and whole
plants into the environment has life changing consequences
for all these groups. Corn pollen can travel up to two
miles or more depending on wind conditions. Bees can
travel many more miles each day randomly selecting and
distributing pollen. ~`armers and gardeners growing their
corn varieties risk seeing their food crops cross-
pollinated with unwanted genes without their knowledge.
Genes of pesticides, vaccines, antibodies, viruses,
bacteria, insect .resistance, or corn grown for animal
feed. Some permits merely say `°gene expression altered"
or "yield increased" but do not reveal the enhanced genes
inserted. And who will be liable for this trespass? Who
is watching out to protect our food supply? At the
present time the farmer or gardener growing the patented
genes is liable to pay royalties to the company who holds
the patent, even unknowingly. The fragile Hawaiian
Ecosystem should not be an open air laboratory for the
testing of these new and novel foods and medicines.
Regulation and oversight at the federal level through the
USDA, FDA, and EPA is corporation friendly and is not
currently set up to protect the environment or citizen
rights in a meaningful way.
The debate here at home over genetically engineered foods
and crops continues to awaken. A few weeks ago the Kona
Coffee Council and the Kona Farmers Alliance issued a
statement on their position concerning genetically altered
coffee. The Kona Farm Eureau, the Kona Pacific Farmers
Cooperative, and the Hawaii Coffee Association also voted
to support these principles. They called for a moratorium
on the release of genetically modified coffee on the
Island of Hawaii until a regulatory regime has been
adopted that includes extensive evaluation of genetic
contamination from pollen drift and other environmental
consequences and secondary effects and that the liability
lies with the producer of the GMO's.
Globally, at the ~7T0 and other Eiosafety Treaty
negotiations new world trade rules are beginning to
emerge. Fills to label genetically engineered foods and
safety testing of these foods are beginning to be
introduced at the federal and state levels. 'Mall Street
continues to feel jittery about the future of agricultural
biotechnology. Scientists and researchers are concerned
about the growing influence of financial interest over
independent science and the patenting of life forms.
(Supreme Court Chakrabarty decision of 1980) Ordinary
consumers, parents, and concerned citizens are raising
questions, educating themselves and taking action. They
are asking...Are genetically engineered foods harmful to
human health and the environment? How can we protect
farmers' rights, human health, and safeguard our
environment with regards to this technology? Do these new
novel food products offer increased nutritional content or
other benefits of society?
(nlhat is becoming clear is...
1. Agricultural genetic engineering is a radical untested
and unpredictable new technology.
Genetically engineered foods are not being adequately
safety tested for possible damage to human health. (Human
health concerns include allergic and toxic reactions,
possible increased resistance to antibiotics, possible
immune system damage, possible new strains of viruses and
bacteria being created, damage to food quality and
nutrition.)
3. Genetically engineered foods are not being adequately
safety tested for possible damage to the environment.
(Genetic pollution and drift, damage to non target
species, beneficial insects and soil's micro-organisms,
creation of G~ super weeds and super pests, creation of
new plant viruses, damage to biological diversity.)
75$ of the food on our supermarket shelves today
contains G~ ingredients, yet the ~'DA has ruled that these
foods are "substantially equivalent" to conventionally
produced foods so labels and testing is not required.
5. Agricultural genetic engineering has negative social
and economic impacts on family farmers and rural
communities such as ours.
6. Mounting scientific evidence indicates the GE foods
and crops present serious hazards to health and
environment.
The companies producing this food see things differently.
They advertise that:
1. As the world population doubles in the next 30 years
genetically engineered food crops will increase yields,
protect the soil (using less poison), alter plants to
grow in harsh conditions such as drought or wetness, and
will help save the world from hunger.
2. Genetically engineered foods have increased
nutritional value.
3. Farmers benefit through increased yields and reduced
costs.
4. Genetically engineered foods are substantially
equivalent to conventional foods.
5. There is no evidence that GF foods are harmful to
human health. (There is however, world wide debate on the
subject.)
We all (myself .included) need to awaken to the magnitude
of this growing problem and to begin to educate ourselves
on this vastly challenging issue. We need to remain open
to the possibility that genetic engineering confined to
the laboratory could create positive products for human
health. but we do not need to eat unlabeled foods laced
with new and novel genes never seen before by the human
digestive system and the ianmune system. We deserve to
know that our food is safe to eat. Farmers should have
the right to grow corn or papayas free from GNI®
contamination. The fact is, we just don't know. What the
public fears is not experimental science but the
fundamentally irrational decision to let it out of the
laboratory into the real world before we truly understand
it. Genetically engineered food ingredients or crops
should not be allowed on the market unless:
1) Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no
harmful effects on human health or the environment.
2) They are labeled to ensure the consumer's right~°to-
know.
3) The biotechnology corporations that manufacture them
are held responsible for any harm.
The health of rural communities cannot be considered apart
from the health of the land that supports us. tnle
currently import 65$ of the vegetables we eat, 60$ of our
fruits, 60~ of our avocados, and 25~ of our bananas
according to Dept. of Ag. 2000 statistics. Over the past
100 years we have gone from self-sufficiency to almost
total dependance on outside food sources. True food
security for Hawaii means getting the land into the hands
of many small farmers. Let us use our County General
Plan's vision as a positive guide to preserve our
environment for our children and our children's children
and support small family farms and farmers who choose to
help us grow our food. Let us begin community dialog on
this complex issue of genetic engineering and educate
ourselves on it's methods and goals. Let us strive for a
workable solution to this problem of society. Perhaps we
could promote the idea of local self-sufficiency. This a
the surest, the safest, and the healthiest way for the
world to live. Let us not approve or support the loss or
destruction of any local capacity to produce necessary
goods. Know your farmer is an idea whose time has come.
Hawaii GEAN (Genetic Engineering Action Network) is a
grassroots community group of concerned citizens/farmers
committed to looking deeply into the complex technology of
the genetic engineering of foods, pharmaceuticals, and
chemicals in crops. Our intention is to shed light into
public education and action revealing issues on health and
the environment surrounding and underlying this
technology. Our monthly meeting is the second Tuesday of
each month at 7:00 pm at the college of Tropical
Agriculture Extension Station in Kainaliu. Interested
community members are invited to attend. For more
information call Una Greenaway at 328-8888 or Nancy
Redfeather at 322-2801, or email us at
hawaiigean@yahoo.com. Malama Ka Aina,
Nancy Redfeather
*Pesticides are now engineered into the cell of the plant
for insect resistance, or the plant has immunity to
Roundup.
_
August 24, 2002
Dear Honorable Mayor Kim,
am a farmer, parent, teacher, and concerned citizen who
has lived in Kona for 24 years. I am currently building a
demonstration/experimanetal/educational farm in Honalo. I
am also the Gardening Teacher at the Waldorf School,
where I taught kindergarten for 9 years (see attachment).
I am writing to you at the urging of my collegue ,~c~en Pea?~
who is currently caring for her mother in California. Over the
past 7 years I have become quite interested in the field of
genetic engineering of plants and how this new technology
will impact human health, the environment, and the future of
our farming communities. I have extended my research over
a broad base of diverse information on the subject.
The reason I am writing is that over the past 6 months or so,
I have become increasingly aware and concerned about the
second generation of GMO's, the bioengineering of
pharmaceuticals and chemicals in crops, and the role I-lawaii
seems to be playing in that future. Not that I am
unconcerned about Biotech's first generation of food/animal
feed crops. Sut this second generation crosses the divide
between medicine and agriculture ~ not just in the public
mind but in the environment. It will be exceedingly difficult
to impose the exacting standards of drug production on the
inherently uncontrolled conditions of nature (see enclosed
attachment "executive Summary ~ Manufacturing Drugs and
Chemicals in Crops"). Hawaii leads the way in the total
number of open-air releases of genetically modified
organisms of food crops, feed crops, and now
pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
As you know, cross-pollination or horizontal gene flow of
these crops (many of them spliced into corn) with locally
grown food crops, is extremely concerning. History of the
contamination of the canola crop in Canada, and
America's corn in the Heartland crossing with "Starlink" in
2000 (an unapproved protein cry9c made by Aventis,
which has cost $1 billion to recall) serves as a
precautionary principle. No Hawaii farmers want their
corn crossed with pesticides, immunity to Round-up,
vaccines (hepatitis S, experimental AIDS vaccine ap120,
a pig vaccine for gastroenteritis, topicals for herpes,
aprotinin ~ a protease inhibitor (a substance that inhibits
the action of protein by degrading enzyemes in the
digestive system), and avidin, an insecticide used in feed
crops known to impair the immune system, reproduction,
and prenatal development in mice and guinea pigs.
these are the first wave currently being grown in open-
field trials in Hawaii. Corn readily crosses at 2 miles,
bees here travel 5 7 miles per day randomly gathering
pollens. These test sites are unknown. On the Virginia
Polytecnic Institute database, sites and environmental
assessments are absent. S®, wh® d®es kn®w°? Do you
know where they are? Are they here on Hawaii? Who is
responsible for coordinating these test sites to make sure
cross-pollination is not occurring?
called Jim White at the USDA office in Riverdale,
Maryland. He is the director of Siotech permits for
APHIS. He gave me two names of people in Hawaii who
are responsible for receiving the APHIS 2000 farms for
environmental release from the Federal Government.
The 2000 form and an environmental assessment should
be available to anyone under the Freedom of Information
Act, but it is not. Hawaii's contact people are:
1. Carol Okatu (808) 586-0844
2. Myron lsherwooc~ Jr. (808) 586- 0844
Would you or someone in your office ~ help me to find
out more information about these field trials? Would you
be willing to speak to me in person about this subject. I
could come to Hilo if you travel infrequently to Kona.
was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at the first
in-house Conference on Biotechnology at the University
of Hawaii, Manoa 2 weeks ago (see attachment
"Conference Agenda"). As it turned out, I was the only
speaker from the community. I was pleased to meet and
speak with ,4ndrew ~-iashimoto, the Dean of CTHAR, who
was in Kona last week as the main speaker at the Kona
farm bureau's annual meeting. He is striving to develop a
healthy direction for Hawaii's agriculture.
believe this is a powerful emerging industry that few
people understand, yet 75% of the food on our
supermarket shelves contain GMO's, unlabeled, untested,
and of questionable safety.
'his is a vastly complex subject, however, in the light of
the fact that the Kona Coffee Council, the Kona Farmers'
Alliance, the Kona Farm Sureau, and the State Hawaii
Coffee Association have all signed on to the Four Stated
positions written by KCC. HOFA has passed anon-GMO
resolution also. Our Islands' farmers are making a
statement.
Leadership requires such responsibility, and the ability to
see the whole forest for the trees. Keep up the good work
Harry. I support your direction for Hawaii and I look
forward to meeting with you. If I can be of any service to
you, research, etc., let me know.
I am enclosing a Viewpoint article that is being sent to
West Hawaii today.
~`ake good care of yourself.
Aloha,
Nancy ~edfeather
~.O.Sox 906
Kealakekua, Hawaii 96750
(808) 322-2801
NAR/lcm