HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0728.003 2000-2002 Sat, Sep 7, 2002 1:20 PM
Fr®rt~ Duane Erway
Page 1 of 3
~ 74-56{}2-A Alapa Street
~ . _ Sufte 725
Kailua-Kona, I-II X6740
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September 7, 2002 -
Hawaii County Council
Committee on Human Services and Economic Development
Nancy Pisicchio, Chair
2~ Aupuni Street
Hilo, HI 96720
Re: Resolution 23f~02 and Communication 728 (A resolution supporting a moratorium on the release and
planting of genetically modified coffee in the districts of North and South Kona in order to assure and protect
the biotic integrity and market value of Pure Kona Coffee.) Resolution transmitted to Committee by
Councilmember Nancy Pisicchio.
Aloha, Chairperson and Members of the Committee! ! !
The purpose of Plan To Protect (PTPj is to educate, promote and work toward balance and enhancement
between a) environmental protection, b) economic opportunity and development, c) sustainable use of Hawaf'i
Island's resources, d) improved quality of life and social well-being, and e) responsible land use planning on the
Island. One of the resources of our island is the divers~ed agriculture we can provide and the niche markets we
serve. In balances the above-mentioned purposes, we believe that coffee that is bred to be a genetically
modified organism (GMO) is predisposed to disrupt our niche markets and therefore, the livelihood of our
growers and the tax revenues they provide.
It has been established the coffee is readily self-pollinated as well as pollinated by wind and bees (20-50% drop
in coffee production when bees are not present per Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute). We have almost
constant winds of variable speeds impacting the Kona Coffee Belt. Because of the genetic drift caused by cross-
pollination from wind and bees, GMO coffee genes would spread quickly throughout the local industry and the
island.
Given the high cost of producing anything on this island, we cannot compete in a commodities market of any
kind, we can only fill the niche market of gourmet coffee. Once it is determined that our pure Kona coffee has
been crossed with GMO genes, it will no longer be purchased by those individuals and countries abhorring such
products (Europeans). We stand to lose a valuable niche market by allowing GMO coffee into the County of
Hawaii.
One issue we have not seen investigated is how GMO nematode resistance will impact our honeybee industry.
Because of our isolation, we have bees that lack both tracheal and varroa mites. These mites are devastating the
mainland honeybee pollination-honey producing industry. Our island supplies the mainland and the Pacific Rim
with honeybee queens that are healthy and free of these mites.
Some questions that should be answered are: What will happen to our honeybee industry if our bees are
negatively impacted by the GMO coffee? Will nematode resistant GMO coffee affect or even kill our bees?
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Sat, Sep 7, 2002 1:7.0 PM
Frotrt Duane Erway
Page 2 of 3
Vi%ill the G1~1O pollen fed to the baby bees negatively impact their own genes? Will other countries and the US
mainland refuse to buy honey or honeybee queens from Hawaii? At this time, no one knows the answers to
these questions.
Our honeybees are also free from influence of other bee strains, such as, the so-called African or "killer bees".
Africanized bees (hybridized with the European honeybee) are much less docile than the European honeybee
used in Hawaii. Our stock of honeybees has been isolated for decades from additional importations and does
not harbor the aggressiveness of the Africanized bees.
As an island, we have unique and valuable crops and collateral industries (honeybees) that can be protected as a
"seed bank or gene bank" for the future should any world disaster occur as exemplified by the killer bee strains
spreading in North America. To maintain such aseed-gene bank, we need to be very protective of our island's
plants and their genes whether native, indigenous, or imported.
PTP supports the moratorium recommended by the Kona Coffee Council, Kona Farmers' Alliance, Kona Pacific
Farmers' Co-op, and the Hawaii Farm Bureau and respectively requests that the County of Hawaii support:
1. Imposition of a moratorium on the release of genetically modified coffee plants on Hawaii Island until a
regulatory regime has been adopted that includes extensive evaluation of genetic contamination from pollen
drift and other environmental consequences and secondary ecological effects.
2. Ruling that liability, for any external costs to individuals and the environment caused by physical spillover
effects, such as genetic contamination from pollen drift, must be borne by the grower, manufacturers and
distributors of genetically engineered plants.
3. In conjunction with the establishment of an adequate regulatory regime as outlined in L, require genetically
modified plantings to be explicitly labeled as such, and neighboring properties notified [in advance of
planting such modified plants]. The costs of such labeling and notification to be borne by the owner or
lessee of the planted area [of genetically modified plants].
4. Any coffee produced from genetically modified plants to be explicitly labeled as such at every sta eg of its
production through sale to provide adequate information to processors and consumers. The costs of such
labeling and verification to be borne by the growers and processors of the genetically modified coffee.
Additionally, we suggest that Pure Kona Coffee could and should be declared a "Fleritage" crop and protected
by not allowing GMO coffee an}~yhere in the County of Hawaii. The County of Hawaii should take the lead
in extending the Precautionary Principle to the entire State regardless of whether the GMO coffee is used to
provide nematode resistance, decaffeinated coffee, or for any other purpose.
I~iahalo nui loa,
~L'ta-4w~. C~.uray/
Duane D. Erway, President