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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0271.728 2012-2014 Council Testimony COUNTY CLERK COMM/ tir '1'OMl From: Sandra Herndon <2dalwahine @gmail.com> Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 11:52 AM 2013 JUL -3 AM 9: 18 To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Support of Bill 79 Aloha Council Chair and Members, Mahalo for allowing me the opportunity to submit this testimony by email. I am a resident of Kauai, and we are suffering from the onslaught of unexpected outcomes of our County's permitting of GMO companies to use and abuse our land. We have confirmed Atrazine in the water system of Waimea, near the test fields; we have inordinately higher cancer rates in the immediate area; we had keiki from the school adjacent to the fields experiencing nose bleeds and later bronchitis/asthma during the spraying periods and of course, there is the toxic soil conditions resulting from the use of their designer chemicals. We are fighting hard to get the GMO companies off Kauai as well as Maui, and Oahu. The illusion of financial gain by employment or taxes does not bear up in reality. Most of their higher earning employees are brought in, leaving minimum wage positions available to locals and even then, in peak picking periods, more of the lower paid labor positions are imported. The tax breaks accorded to the Agro Business Corporations provides minimal income to the county coffers and does NOT offset the additional costs incurred by the "fallout" of their presence. It will take years to revitalize the soil for healthy food to be grown again on your Island. I ask you to hold the line on allowing GMO's onto Hawaii's fertile, sacred soil! Peace &Aloha on behalf of Kauai Rising, Sandy Herndon Kapaa, HI Comm. N©o._ 1• �IS Ref. To: P P S M I L 1 Ref. Date JUL 0 2 2013