HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0393.095 2012-2014 Page 1 of 1
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From: Rachel Laderman [rachel.laderman @gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 9:53 AM 2013 OCT 3: L12
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Cc: D Kelly
Subject: In favor of Bill 113
We live in District 1, at PO Box 100036 (31-623 Kamaee Rd), Hakalau HI 96710. We have a 20-
acre family farm and grow most of our own food as well as sell at local markets and the natural
food stores.
We are writing in favor of Bill 113, Draft 2, Prohibiting Open Air Genetically Engineered Crops and
Plants.
Our driving purpose in farming is to create food for ourselves and the Hawaii Islands. We love the
thriving local community of small farmers here on the Hamakua coast. Recently in order to
support them, we shifted to eating exclusively locally. We only buy food grown on this island or
the other islands. We are doing this to support the self-sufficiency and economic resilience of the
islands.
Without Bill 113, this island could go the way of the other Hawaii islands and become increasingly
dominated by multinational chemical corporations that do not respect the aina, and do not
produce food for the Hawaiian people. We do not want pesticide drift over our organic crops, we
do not want GMO drift into our corn and other crops, and we do not want small farms bought up
by agribusinesses that "mine" and spray the soil creating toxic duststorms, rather than building
the soil, as organic farmers do.
YES, let us grab this opportunity to be a model of non-GMO crop and seed production and
support environmentally friendly agricultural practices.
Some may argue that GMO foods are perfectly healthy. I disagree. I have three children in their
20's who developed intense food intolerances to wheat, soy, corn, and dairy while in their teens,
right when GMO soy and corn were becoming ubiquitous, so I have researched the health issues.
I have 20 years' experience as an Environmental Health educator so I do know how to dig for
facts behind the sometimes sensationalist headlines.
However, the problem is that the science has not been done adequately because genetically
engineered crops have not been required to undergo rigorous testing. Much of the research done
has been by the corporations that stand to profit, and has been too short-term, and ignored
multiple factors. This is where the precautionary principle comes in. In the face of uncertainty,
and with evidence beginning to show major health effects, let us not subject the island to
irreversible contamination by any more genetically engineered crops.
We need farmlands to grow food to feed the islanders! Say no to GMO!
Aloha,
Rachel Laderman
Dan Kelly
Comm. No. 393. 9c
Ref.To: leoren(/
Ref. Dote OCT
10/14/2013