HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0393.244 2012-2014 Page 1 of 2
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Murashige, Laura ['`1r '
From: Steven Jacquier[stevenjacquier @gmail.com]
ZVI3 NOV --�# � 00
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 11:25 AM NI
• (2
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Testimony for Bill 113, 2pm 05NOV2013, from Steven Jacquier, District 5
Testimony: Bill 113,final hearing 2pm 05NOV2013,from Steven Jacquier, District 5.
I oppose Bill 113.
I support amendments exempting research.
Dear Council Members
Please do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I live here, farm here, am part of this community, hope to see my
grandchildren grow up healthy and strong here, and love Hawaii. We can do better than Bill 113.
Do not confuse scientific research with shortsighted corporate greed. Do not shut down scientific research into GMO
approaches for developing better crops and fighting disease just because corporations have a proven record of conscienceless,
shortsighted, idiotic behavior. Instead, set stringent controls on the latter and allow the former to proceed.
People are frightened and confused regarding GMO research versus GMO applications. They have good reasons for both
feeling sacred and confused. Unfortunately, science which could benefit us all is being confused with potential corporate
misapplication of that same research. Apples versus zebras-they are not the same at all.
The current situation with GMO research being vigorously protested has precedent in another field. Scientific research into
nuclear physics has yielded benefits in hundreds of applications ranging from household devices we use every day
(microwave ovens, smoke detectors, computers, cel phones, etc)and life-saving medical treatments to deep space astronomy
and bettering our understanding of the universe in which we live. Certain corporations supplying the military have also used
the insights of that same research to produce nuclear bombs, depleted uranium weapons, and flawed power stations such as
Fukushima. The problem has not been nuclear physics research but rather a lack of oversight and judicious restraint with how
that scientific research is applied in our daily lives. GMO research is no different: great benefits are possible ...and problems
can also be anticipated if corporate shortsightedness&greed are allowed to run amok.
Hawaii occupies a unique position both geographically and geopolitically. Located in the tropics we are able to research
issues here with relevance to billions of people living in poverty in the tropics& subtropics around the globe. Those folks
struggle with malnutrition and disease on a daily basis,yet lack the infrastructure&training of our research facilities and
scientists. Protesters of GMO research cry out with concern regarding their own children's health—and rightly so-yet where
is the concern about children in poorer nations all around the globe? Where is the aloha spirit and"Think globally,act
locally" ethos these good folks usually embrace when it comes to our responsibility for conducting GMO research benefitting
these other peoples' children?To those whom much is given,much is asked. We have a moral responsibility to conduct this
research.
Many of the"organic" vegetables, fruits, and flowers which we all enjoy from our local farmers markets were grown from
seeds developed by the research of a scientist named Luther Burbank. We treasure the many benefits to health, economy, and
the aesthetic quality of our lives that genetic research allows us to take for granted and enjoy on a daily basis. Back in the
1920's, however, Luther Burbank routinely received hundreds of angry letters every day,many filled with death threats; he
was nearly lynched and killed by an angry mob for his research. People fear that which they do not understand and they did
not understand Burbank's research. The stress of coping with years of attacks took its toll on Burbank and led to his death,
but now every organic farm in Hawaii is also growing&harvesting the benefits of his research, every child in Hawaii is
better nourished because of that research, and every life is beautified by Luther Burbank's flowers.
People are likewise confused about GMO research. Some of that confusion is accidental and some is being deliberately sown
as disinformation designed to forever tank all GMO research. For example,GMO research is in no way synonymous with
increased pesticide usage,yet it is being presented this way-as if the one equals the other. GMO research can be used that
way, but the two are not one and the same.Nuclear physics research is in no way synonymous with an atomic bomb being
dropped on Hiroshima, either, but because the one is connected with the other all the many distinctions between tend to be
collapsed. When a smoke detector saves the lives of a sleeping family or a child is cured of cancer with nuclear medicine do
Comm. No.
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people think"the same research which produced bombs and flawed power stations produced this life-saving benefit"?No,
but it did. Do not confuse a mis-application of technology emerging from a branch of scientific research with the scientific
research itself. They are not the same.
We are now in a phase of human history where the population has far overshot carrying capacity of the global environment,
our society is dependent upon petrochemicals long after we have passed peak oil production, pollution and toxic messes
abound threatening even the oceans, emergent diseases threaten species from ohia to humans, and the climate is disturbed by
global warming. We will need every tool at our disposal to counter the worst of that which is already headed toward us. Want
to save habitat and preserve endangered species? Want to save the oceans? Want to save the honeybees,whales,and maybe
even the humans too?Then please do not shut down scientific research out of fearful confusion, religious bias,or misplaced
"organic" ideological zealotry. Yes, do keep a very tight leash on corporate exploitation of scientific insights,but do not
throw out the baby with the bathwater. Bill 113 is too flawed and we can do better; please vote no.
Thank you.
Steven Jacquier
District 5
13-3829 Ala Ili Road
Pahoa, HI 96778-1256
"Every gun that is made,every warship launched,every rocket fired signifies,in the final sense,
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,those who are cold and are not clothed.This world
in arms is not spending money alone.It is spending the sweat of its laborers,the genius of its scientists,
the hopes of its children." —Dwight D.Eisenhower
11/4/2013