HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0393.162 2012-2014 COUNTY CLERK .•,
COUNTY OF HAWAII
RECEIVED , l
Time 4-1 p,M• 8y o .-,
Date Jo -14--i 3
Kona Coast Wellness - Marya Mann, Ph. D. - P. O. Box 5154 - Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Testimony in support of to testify in support of Bill 113 Draft 2 to ban further GMO plantings in Hawaii
County. This is a very significant step for the future of Hawaii County and the world.
July 2 and October 15, 201
Aloha, Honorable Council Members!
Mahalo for listening or reading my testimony. As a longtime doctor of wellness and creativity, I consult with many
who wonder why they don't feel as well as they used to. My colleagues and I - Dr. Koakane Green, Marlow DeVonn
and Alison Bickel- believe that many people around the world are feeling bad today not because 60-70% of food
products in grocery stores genetically modified. It would be extremely difficult to get a large enough control group
(people who consume no GMOs) to conduct a valid study of GMOs anymore, so the best we can do is learn from
experience, like the experience of a farmer named Cindy in Coldwater, Michigan.
Another farmer with land near them next to Silver Lake dug a dug a deep well in 2010 about 600 feet from the lake
shore. He did it in the dead of winter, going through snow and frozen ground after the summer crowd left for the
season and when everyone returned in the spring, Cindy and her neighbors found that their water pipes often sucke
air. The GM farmer used immense irrigation systems the whole summer on his new GM crops. Another GM farmer
near a pond that our friend owns a few miles away in the same county also drilled a well to irrigate his fields and the
pond went dry.
The first farmer started planting GM crops about 4 years ago. They knew he did it because he put out signs
indicating that they were GM when he planted his corn and in the fall, when he began to harvest, he actually flew a
skull-and-crossbones flag on his combine and harvester! Cindy and her husband started coughing, and they
coughed their way through his harvest, as we do every year now, with it getting worse every year. The other thing
that's happened is that Coldwater farmers have almost no birds anymore. Cindy has her bird feeders out, for both
songbirds and hummingbird. For years she enjoyed a wide variety of birds outside her window. But last year, in
2012, she never once had to replenish her bag of feed. The birds are gone. So are the butterflies. She saw zero
butterflies last summer, and there were hardly any bees. Everyone knows this loss of pollinators in our environment
is a cause for serious concern.
The bees used to battle the hummingbirds for food in Coldwater, but the two lonely hummingbirds that visited Cindy'
feeder this year had very little competition from the handful of bees that came around. There used to be flocks of
hummingbirds, but this year her hummingbird feeder actually went sour before she had to change it. The wild deer
are gone too. In other parts of our country, people are blaming the drought for low bird populations. But Coldwater
Farmers are sitting on a lake. There's plenty of water there. And there are no birds. Again, the only thing that's
changed is they're surrounded by GM fields.
GMOs-Genetically modifying organisms -- are a fundamental violation of nature. The diminishment of our capacity
for diversity, genetic profusion and ongoing life is too great a risk. GMO-invaded crops no longer have the
adaptability organisms need to evolve and they infect anyone or any animal who ingests these foods with toxins. It i
not a natural process occurring in nature. It is manipulating nature for short term financial gain with potential long
term consequences. It is precisely this pattern of grabbing for a short term quick fix that has our world on the path c
unprecedented destruction — be it Climate change, Fukushima, nuclear war, global economic collapse, etc.
To support Bill 113, v. 2, for a GMO ban in Hawaii County is to take a small but important step in affirming the long
term life of the land over the short term quick fix of financial gain for the few at the expense of the many. It is a step
that affirms the sacredness and interconnection of all life. It is a step for future generations and the earth for which
this council can take pride. We have choice. What do we choose from now into the future?
Mahalo nui loa. Marva Mann. Ph. D.. Author. Wellness Consultant and Yoaa Dancer. Kailua-Kona