HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0882.059 2006-2008
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Keri Kaneshiro and I
am a kumu at Kanu o ka `Aina New Century Public Charter School. In the mission
statement of our school, it is stated that the surrounding environment become our
living learning laboratories, where students and community work together to create a
future that is pono- everything that is good and right from a Hawaiian perspective." This
is why we are here today, to ask you to support bill S.B.958 S.D.1 H.D.I to impose a ten
year moratorium on the development, "testing, propagating, cultivating, growing, and
raising of genetically modified taro in the State of Hawaii's."
There are many different reasons why this moratorium should be imposed. Some
of the reasons why this moratorium should be put instated is that
-"developing, testing, propagating, cultivating, growing, and raising genetically
modified taro" is not pono.
-The Hawaiian people believe that the kalo is their elder brother, Haloa, whom
has sustained and nourished his people from the beginning of time.
- Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Washington-based Center for Food
Safety, an environmental advocacy group, told the Honolulu Advertiser that
"Nationwide, genetic engineering could pose a threat to crops because it could
cause allergies and create new toxins in foods," Mr. Freese was also quoted as
saying in the April 3`d, 2007 article that "This is a radical new technology that's
nothing like traditional breeding... It's a very imprecise technology that can have
lots of unintended effects."
Do we really want to put the health and well-being of our future children on the
line, just so that we can see what happens when the kalo is genetically modified? Is
playing God really what we want to do? How sure can the scientist be that the modified
kalo will not be mixed in with other kalo and therefore contaminate the ancient Hawaiian
varieties of kalo? Will our bodies be able to handle the new proteins that are created in
the modified kalo? How is genetically modifying the kalo pono?
Please support this bill and place a 10 year moratorium on the "developing,
testing, propagating, cultivating, growing, and raising genetically modified taro." Thank
you for your time and consideration Mr. Chairman and members of the County Council.
Sincere ,
Ke Kaneshiro
Comm. No. O ospa
Ref. To: 41
Ref. Date N 2 4 200$ -