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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0480.003 2010-2012Page 1 of 1 Murashige, Laura From: Sent: To: Cc: Subject: Vincent Dodge [aipohaku @hotmail.com] Tuesday, December 06, 2011 11:43 PM counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us cohmayor @co.hawaii.hi.us; dyagong @co.hawaii.hi.us; dikeda @co.hawaii.hi.us; jyoshimoto @co.hawaii.hi.us; donishi @co.hawaii.hi.us; fblas @co.hawaii.hi.us; bsmart @co.hawaii.hi.us; bford @co.hawaii.hi.us; apilago @co.hawaii.hi.us Testimony HSAC package, Communication 480 Genetically Modified Food Labeling Attachments: TESTIMONY GM FOOD LABELING .doc Aloha kakou, PLease find attached testimony for council meeting 7 december, HSAC package, Communication 480 regarding genetically modified food labeling. Please call 478 -6492 if needing more info. mahalo nui, vkd for da ' oana 12/7/2011 MWMII Comm. No. 880.3 Ref. To: Ref. Date Dc( 7 Ye, TESTIMONY IN STRONG SUPPORT OF A BILL RELATING TO GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD LABELING HSAC package, Communication 480 Hawaii Island County Council Meeting, Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011 Hearing Date: 12/7/11 Council Chambers at the County Building in Hilo, 25 Aupuni Street, Room 1401 Aloha Council members, We the under signed are parents, grandparents, active community members, voters and are writing in full support of the of the genetically modified food labeling resolution. Mahalo nui for considering this very important request and basic consumer right. It is our right to know the ingredients that make up the food we are buying with our hard earned dollars. Genetically modified foods are not natural. They are manmade concoctions which have not been thoroughly tested and are likely dangerous to consume. Consider that we are always told to wash our fruits and vegetables because they are exposed to pesticides and herbicides. Consider that when you consume products made from or fed genetically modified (gm) "roundup ready" corn, soy or canola, every molecule contains the poison roundup. You may think that is safe, the biotech industry will certainly try to convince you that it is, but these manmade concoctions have not been thoroughly tested. Case in point- Aspartame. Aspartame, the genetically modified artificial sweetener was originally developed as a drug, but when discovered to be so sweet, marketed as a sweetener. As a drug it would have undergone rigorous testing in both animals and humans by independent entities before approval. The effects of the drug and its side effects at specific doses would have been thoroughly documented, and it would have available only through a prescription by a physician, to treat a specific condition. This is the precautionary principle at work. This is intelligent. The testing by the makers GD Searle of aspartame was so shoddy and deceptive that it resulted in a lawsuit filed by the FDA against them. And its approval was political, soon after Ronald Reagan gained presidency by his new FDA appointee, Dr. Arthur Hayes, who over rode the agencies senior scientist who had voted to deny the approval. Two years later Dr. Hayes left the FDA under charges of impropriety and was then hired by the PR firm for GD Searle at approx. $1000 /day. There was no rigorous human testing for aspartame, no documentation of its effects and side effects at any doses and it is in numerous foods —like drinks and gum, which not only adults consume, but also pregnant women and young children. This is gross negligence at best, and deliberate poisoning at worst. Gmos have their place we believe as drugs, and as such they need to be rigorously tested before being consumed by people. As citizens, parents, grandparents, and consumers we are asking you on behalf of our families and community to do a very simple intelligent thing -have gmos labeled. Have gmos ingredients labeled in foods so we can choose how we spend our hard earned dollars. The biotech industry especially Monsanto has spent tens of millions of dollars successfully fighting the labeling of their gmo products saying it is unnecessary and costly. That the gm producers are so adamant about keeping their products unlabelled is definitely a red flag. And now having studied their products, their cooption of the FDA, and their deceptive, shoddy and unscientific studies, we believe very little they say. Additionally Monsanto is responsible for purposely poisoning and devastating a whole community with PCBs (Anniston, Alabama). They were fined $700 million. Their final word on the matter was that the profits they made on the products that poisoned the community far out weighted the fine. These people are not to be trusted. They do not have our best interest in mind. The labeling requested in the HSCA package is very simple and very inexpensive. It is also business as usual in more than two -dozen countries including the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Brazil, China and Japan. This is neither to difficult or too costly for the industry and food producers to implement. 2011: Monsanto posts net income of $1 billion for fiscal 2010. (OUCH! a 50% loss from 2009). The links below contain information regarding aspartame, Monsanto and gmo labeling. It is our right as consumers to know the ingredients that make up the food we are buying with our hard earned dollars. Mahalo nui for considering the extremely important issue of gm food labeling. ho'opiha kau 'ekek poi I ka manwa apau, may your poi bowl be always full, Vince Kana'i Dodge 808 478 -6492 aipohaku @hotmail.com Dr. Fred Dodge MD 808 696 -4677 makuakauka @hotmail.com Karen Young NP 808 696 -4677 kgsyoung@hotmail.com Chisa Dodge and daughter Harley Anthony- Punua 'Ohana w /daughters Ko'iahi, Ma'aloa and Kula'ila'I 808 5432 -1326 iiawah @hotmail.com Senator Maile Shimabukuro 808 586 -7793 maileshimabukuro @yahoo.com http://gmwatch.eu/latest- listing /1- news - items / 6083 - standing -up- for - the - truth - about -gm- food- http: / /www.brasscheckty. com/ videos /health- and - medical /the - dangers -of- aspartame. html http : / /articles.mercola.com/sites /articles /archive /2010/07/31 /aspartame - update.aspx http: / /www.sourcewatch.org /index.php ?title= Monsanto's Global Pollution Legacy http:// www. forbes.com/sites /michellemaisto /2011 /12/01 /with-gmo- labels - still - missing- look- for -the- opposite/ http: / /news.google.com/news/ more ?pq =gmo +labeling &hl= en &ds= n &cp =31 &gs_id =5i& xhr =t &q =gmo +labeling +in +other +countries &qe =Z21 vIGxhYmV saW5nIGluIG90aGVyI GNvdW 50cmllcw &gesig= Nkclk8fA 1 FRDADpz9ZogQA &pkc= AFgZ2tnnAKy334kPcv 7ZaE2izpDDtPE- 5u2M_65PaDnV_iWAP 11 UJxgWvKMUCaPwSSPAQ03vjcLIu18zJ- JOJTXvewIgKAL5pQ &gs_up1= &bav= on.2,or.r_gc.r pw.,cf.osb &biw= 864 &bih =536 &u m =1 &ie =UTF- 8&ncl=dymTBmrUi 1 ZNrTMXO2TSFaf ftkwM &ei= AFndTpb5PMWkiQKbgbH9Aw &s a= X &oi= news_result &ct= more - results &resnum =1 &sqi= 2 &ved= OCDMQggIwAA