HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0271.544 2012-2014 Page 1 of 1
COUNTY OF HR
Murashige, Laura COUNTY CLERK
From: Sherry Palmer[kelpal2003 @yahoo.com] 1013 MAY 111 PM 2: 28
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 1:55 PM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Bill 79
Aloha County Council,
Bill #79 is a great bill and I hope it is one that you will support.
There are numbers of reasons that more GMO crops should not be allowed here.
1. It gives control of the seed to large corporations, not the individual farmer.
2. No long term, peer reviewed, independent scientific study has ever been done proving the
safety of any GMO and they are all different. The first long term, peer reviewed, independent
animal study was released in 2012 and published in the Journal of Food and Chemical
Toxicology. It links genetically engineered corn to mammary tumors and kidney and liver
damage. Past 90 day studies linked GMO foods to allergies and liver and kidney problems.
3. Varieties and long term agricultural success: There are 1000's of varieties of apples, the
Peruvians grew hundreds of varieties of potatoes, their staple crop. Here in Hawaii there are
numerous varieties of kalo. This is a successful agricultural strategy because some varieties may
be more resistant to one pest or disease and others more resistant to the next. The wisdom of
varieties fell by the wayside in much of our modern agriculture due to huge corporate farms
taking over with the practice of mono-cropping and using GMO seed.
4. The health of our land: GMO's use molecules from different species which are combined into
one molecule to create a new set of genes and in some instances including genes allowing the
crop to be more "roundup ready", thereby making roundup ready plants, which do not use less
roundup but are engineered to be able to take more. This produced a disaster in Argentina where
roundup ready soybeans were planted for several years and eventually produced super weeds that
roundup could not kill and the crop production had to be halted.
5. Even though we are on the largest island, there is not enough space to leave a buffer large
enough to grow GMO crops without effecting, or should 1 say infecting, the numerous small
farmers who make their living selling much more desirable and lucrative organic crops.
Aloha,
Sheryl Palmer
Comm. No. aii. ‘44
Ref.To: P/PsNTL
Ref. Date JUL 0 2 2013
5/14/2013