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? JPN-08-2008 10:57 From:TROPICRL HRWRIIRN 18089667367 To:808 961 8912 P.:. Y P/DMC TROPICAL HAWAIIAN PRODUCTS _ 20 A 8 RM In 5? _ CC)lJ! ' - C:-.-7; 11 11 , Keaau, HaN 96749 COUNT,, K kO, ;I) Phone (808) 9E8.7435 Fax (806) 8667267 Date: January 7, 2008 Chairman Bob Jacobsen Hawaii County Council Committee on Environment management Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Re: Res. 463-08, A resolution Supporting HB 1577 hdl to Temporarily Prohibit the Growing of Genetically Modified Coffee for a Period of 5 Years, at the same time, Permit Research in an Environmentally Secure Facility. Dear Chairman Jacobsen and Members of the Committee on Environment Management: VERY STRONGLY OPPOSE. My name is Loren Mochida, General Manager of Tropical Hawaiian Products (THP) in Keaau, Hawaii. THP is a processor and exporter of Hawaiian Premiam papayas to CONUS and Japan. THP represents approximately 70 individual growers in the Puna District. Research and approvals of all biotechnology crops takes years to complete. This i,s done to ensure the integrity of the crop and insure that it is safe to the environmern and consumers, Should a virus or disease devastate a crop in Hawaii, it resistant variety could be standing by to continue the production. Common sense will show that stopping all research and. testing (including field tests) of biotech crops can be injurious to those particular commodities. It would nol be practical for research and testing to start when devastation of a crop takes place. It is not a smart business decision; Were it not for researchers with vision in Hawaii studying the Papaya Ring Spot Virus PRSV) in the early eighties, there could have been no papaya industry in Hawaii. After the PRSV hit the largest papaya growing area and devastated the industry in the mid nineties, approval for field-testing of the transgenic papayas had already been planted. fi pant. No. We Ref. Te, haaw E RA DWO JAN R _Zoats