HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0271.342 2012-2014 1.
support for Bill 79, draft 2 prohibiting genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
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for special meeting of Hawai'i County Council Committee on Public Safety& Mass Transit =gyp
9:00 am Tuesday, July 2, 2013. West Hawai'i Civic Center r`- C
by Cory Harden, Sierra Club, Moku Loa Group, PO Box 1137, Hilo, Hawaii
96721 808-968-8965 mh @interpac.net N -<
Banning GMOs is something that can be undone. Allowing GMOs may be something that can never be —r--
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Banning GMOs may draw a lawsuit over the limits of County authority. But allowing GMOs may draw a 0• —
lawsuit over County failure to protect health, safety, and the environment.
In twenty years, we could be known locally and worldwide as the only major Hawaiian island raising food
practically free of GMO contamination. Hundreds of small farms could grow a variety of crops, adapting to
local conditions, drawing on traditional knowledge, and avoiding mono-cropping and imported chemicals.
This resilient system could recover quickly from setbacks. Our health, land,water,and unique plants and
animals could be protected. Local people could make local decisions. We could approach food self-
sufficiency.
Or, in twenty years, we could be struggling with genetic and chemical contamination, and with who's
accountable.
Sierra Club has many specific concerns about GMOs, based on mainstream news articles, scientific
studies, and similar sources, all identified in our written testimony.
GMOs can contaminate other crops.
GMO wheat popped up in Oregon nine years after Monsanto said it stopped testing it. A lawsuit was filed
saying Monsanto "potentially contaminated the entire wheat farming and production chain,'and places
many wheat farmers at risk for continued harm through cross-pollination and contamination of their
crops."
("U.S. farmer lawsuit filed against Monsanto over GMO wheat". Reuters, 6-6-13]
Bayer GMO rice contaminated almost one-third of U.S. ricelands seven years ago.
[Bayer Settles with Farmers Over Modified Rice Seeds. New York Times, 7-1-11]
GMOs can contaminate wild plants.
"A GM turfgrass [creeping bentgrass]...spread its pollen up to...13 miles...in central Oregon... Creeping
bentgrass...frequently cross-pollinates with closely related wild grasses."
[September 2004: Study finds long-distance gene flow via pollen from creeping bentgrass.
http://cls.Casa.colostate.edu/transgeniccrops/news.html#bentgrass]
Roundup-resistant GMO crops encourage more Roundup—but it's dangerous.
One of Roundup's inert ingredients"can kill human embryonic, placental. and umbilical cord cells."
Roundup's active ingredient, glyphosate, has been linked to "genetic malformations in amphibians" and
exposure was found to be "a risk factor for people developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma."
("Weed-Whacking Herbicide Proves Deadly to Human Cells', Scientific American, 6-23-09]
[G] "lyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other food borne chemical residues and environmental
toxins...Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet..."
[Samsel and Seneff, Glyphosate's Suprression of Cytochrome P450 enzymes and Amino Acid
Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome:Pathwasy to Modern Diseases, Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1416-
1463]
"Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth...several recent studies showed its [glyphosate's]
potential adverse health effects to humans as it may be an endocrine disruptor ...[our] results indicated
that low and environmentally relevant concentrations of glyphosate possessed estrogenic activity."
Comm. N 9-1 1 . 3 4L
Ref. To: FSM�L
Ref. Date JUl U 2201L.-
The Bayer rice drew a lawsuit from about 11,000 farmers. Bayer paid $750 million to settle.
[Bayer Settles with Farmers Over Modified Rice Seeds, New York Times, 7-1-11]
GMO corporations threaten home rule.
The Hawai'i Crop Improvement Association, whose members include GMO corporations. said counties
have no authority to ban GMOs.
"Some examples of bills and ordinances in which the counties overstepped their
kuleana include: 1. A Hawaii island ban on biotechnology..."
[testimony by HCIA, http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov./session2O13/Testimony/
SB727. TESTIMONY_JUD 03-15-13 ,PDF]
"HCIA is a nonprofit trade association representing the agricultural seed industry in Hawaii.
...HCIA member companies include Dow AgroScience. Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred International,
Syngenta and BASF. ...Hawaii seed companies use plant breeding practices to produce both
conventional and biotech parent seed lines."
[Hawai'i Crop Improvement Association website, http://wvwv.hciaonline.corn/about-hci 7
In California, when a GMO labeling initiative came up, industry defeated it by outspending consumer and
environmental groups over five-to-one--though polls show 70% to 95% of U.S. citizens support GMO
labeling. (Despite industry spending, the California vote was close--51% to 49%.)
[testimony to a Washington State Legislature committee by Michael Hansen. PhD. senior
scientist, Consumers Union (a division of Consumer Reports) 2-14-13]
In twenty years, will we be just one more pawn for GMOs? Or leaders for sustainable farming?
Suggested amendment to Bill 79, draft 2
p. 8—Registration
To address worries that GMO crops will be vandalized, do not give our location information
unless people come to a County office, give their name, and show identification.