HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0393.499 2012-2014 Page 1 of 1
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From: stephen zilch [stphnzilch6 @gmail.com]
2013 NOV 1 8 Pll 3 07
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 10:15 AM
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Do Not Pass This Bill
Dear Council Members,
Please for the love of god don't let this bill go through. GMO is not Monsanto as much as the proponents
want you to believe. GM crops have been proved safe by reputable scientist and unbiased researchers
time and time again. The proponents of the bill can only cite researcher by scientist that are obviously
biased with methods that completely undermine their legitimacy, or they cite anecdotal evidence with
religious (generally Hawaiian) and rhetorical (deeming GM's unnatural) significance that has no place in
this debate. The proponents of this bill would have you believe that Hawaii would set a precedent for the
"anti-GM" movement, but GM's are so established in our country this bill will be over turned within the
decade for having no scientific grounding. Or we will simply starve and become even more dependent
on the mainland after all the illusions of our crop stability are lost. Gm's give us a wonderful economic
possible future for the big island we could grow crops that can be converted to bio-fuels, and we can
grow more then enough food to be self sustaining or even exporting. Passage of this bill will only cause
more hardships for the people of The Big Island you are making them pay more for food and gas when
they don't need to.
Gm's are complicated they are tough to make, they require in depth knowledge of biological processes
that take years to develop generally through higher education, but they are exact. Traditional selective
breeding is messy and precise it requires us to change the entire genome creating all kinds of
unpredictable mutations. Metaphorically if I wanted to change a sentence in this letter through
traditional selective breeding every time I made a mistake I would have to rewrite the whole letter with
no grantee that I would make any mistakes or even write about the same subject when I rewrote the
letter again. But now we have the ability to change one gene at a time combine that with almost 20 years
of extensive genomic research and we have an extremely safe and precise tool to get the exact genomic
recombination we desire. Now if an impact on the biodiversity by cross pollination is understandable,
but if we put a scientific eye into even the simplest genetics what do we see? Well first off if the gene is
recessive like the vast majority of modified genes it will require a double recessive cross to have the
gene show up in the phenotype. This will happen in nature eventually, on as few as 3 generations after
the genes introduction, but lets not forget that these genes are tiny in comparison with the rest of the
organisms genome, and that even before a seed can be germinated meiosis randomly assorts the genes
twice from both parents before the haploid cells ever even meet. The likely hood of a gene being
inherited just keeps dropping and dropping with each random assortment and random parental crosses.
The biological world is in constant movement its adapting its constantly trying to improve its self to live
longer, kill faster, and get fatter. We are no different we are as much a part of this system as any other
organism, and that means we have to adapt, and since we aren't quickly mutating E. Coli we have to find
another way to change the system around us to fit our needs. Please don't let this bill go through Hawaii
will be in desperate need of GM products in the near future.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Biology Student
Comm. No.
93• I/99
Ref. To: P /COunti '/
Ref. Date NOV 19 2013
11/18/2013