HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0616.001 2016-2018 Pl Mal_
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COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAII
support for Resolutions 419, 420, 421, 422, 435, 436 re. rat lungworm
for Hawai'i County Council, 9 AM Wednesday, December 20, 2017, Kona cl t rs
from Cory Harden, 333cory@gmail.com ULUO AM
8: 48
It's indefensible that, after three years of requests, the State legislature has not allocated enough money
to research rat lungworm disease.
In the last legislative session, Hawai'i Island legislators shepherded through a bill to fund researchers led
by Susan Jarvi at UH Hilo. The bill sailed through without any"no"votes. But then Senator Jill Tokuda, as
chair of the Ways and Means Committee, denied funding, and instead gave$1 million to Department of
Health (DOH)to deal with rat lungworm.
State Representative Richard Creagan didn't mince words. He said, "I'm a physician on the Big Island.
And we provided a bill that would have given a million dollars to the Jarvi Lab to do the research that
was needed. That money was diverted to the Health Department . When the Health Department got it,
they said, "We didn't ask for this money. We don't know what we're going to do with it." That's what
they said. And what have they done with it? They come up with a piece of paper and some empty
promises. Well, I think it's reprehensible what our Health Department and what our Governor is doing to
not support the Jarvi Lab." (1)
Creagan also said, "What they're missing is a huge epidemic probably 10 to 100 times what they're
recognizing....they're trying to minimize a problem that has serious consequences for health, agriculture,
and for tourism." (2)
State Senator Kai Kahele called Jarvi's team "the subject-matter experts on rat lungworm in Hawaii" and
said "There's no other lab that's doing what UH Hilo is doing." (3)
Similar concerns have been expressed by other Hawai'i Island legislators—Senator Russell Ruderman,
Representative Joy San Buenaventura, and Representative Chris Todd.
DOH is telling people they'll be safe if they wash their produce. Jarvi says, "There's no evidence that
water kills the larvae. They live quite well in water for weeks." (4)
DOH does nothing meaningful to help people on catchment keep their water safe from rat lungworm or
anything else.Jarvi reports seeing dozens of slugs, which can carry the disease, even in well-maintained
catchment tanks.
Last month Jarvi's group only had about$11,000 left in its budget. Compare that to the price tag of some
of the studies needed:
• $600,000 for a study on how to design safer catchment tanks.
• $150,000 to $200,000 to develop a blood test to diagnose rat lungworm without using the only
existing method, a painful spinal tap.
• $60,000 to study vegetable washes to kill the larvae.
• $15,000 to develop a way to determine if larvae are dead, or just temporarily affected by
treatment (I think that's the subject of today's resolutions.)
In 2016 there were 11 confirmed cases statewide. For 2017, by November,there were 18 cases. County
Council is stepping up to the plate, but what we really need is serious State or Federal money.
Notes on reverse.....
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NOTES
(1) Big Island Lawmakers Upset Over State Rat Lungworm Prevention Plan, Hawai'i Public Radio,
August 2, 2017, http://hawaiipublicradio.org/postlbig-island-lawmakers-upset-over-state-rat-
lungworm prevention-plan
(2) State launches media campaign to quell rat lungworm, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, December 19,
2017, http:l/www.staradvertiser.com/2017/12/19/hawaii-news/state-launches-media-campaign-to-
quell-rat-lungworm/
(3) Lawmakers Provide No Money For Rat Lungworm Research, Civil Beat,April 28, 2017,
http://www.civilbeat org/2017/04/lawmakersprovide-no-money-forrat-lungworm-research/
(4) Lab's Rat Lungworm Research Finally Gave This Man A Diagnosis, Civil Beat, November 2, 2017,
http://www.civilbeat org/2017/11/alae-mcnarie-labs rat-lungworm-research-finally-gave-this-man-a-
diagnosis/