HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0489.121 2018-2020 From: MaU Lamue
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony in favor of Bill 101
Date: Sunday,October 13,2019 11:55:11 AM
Aloha Esteemed County of Hawai'i Councilpersons,
My name is Mary Lacques and I am a resident of Hale'iwa in the City and
County of Honolulu, and a volunteer for Hawai'i SEED, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to educating the public about the dangers associated
with pesticide use, genetically engineered crop experimentation, and
prompting culturally-based agroecological farming practices.
I am writing to encourage you to vote in favor of Bill 101 which would prohibit
the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides on all county-owned parks, roads,
bikeways, sidewalks, trails, drainage ways, and waterways. This 4-year transition
period, establishes a Vegetation Management Transition Committee to guide
the conversion to organic practices.
By educating yourselves about the dangers of pesticides and their effects on
the environment, our public spaces and those that inhabit them, you have take
steps to become the leaders in encouraging the rest of Hawai'i to follow suit.
I am especially concerned about our keiki, whose developing bodies are
particularly vulnerable to these scheduled spraying events by our county and
state.
Hawai'i SEED is a proud member of the Protect Our Keiki Coalition who
sponsored the recent visit of Dewayne Lee Johnson, who was the first plaintiff
to win a lawsuit against Monsanto, associating his Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma
with his use of glyphosate-based produces in the capacity of his job as a public
school groundskeeper.
I applaud the Hawai'i County department heads for meeting with Johnson, not
only listen to his personal story but to being open to hearing from experts about
non-toxic alternatives that have already been implemented in maintaining public
parks and large hotels on Maui,which brings to mind the need to not only protect
HawaiTs residents but our visitors as well.
And mahalo for being proactive in choosing to implement the cost-effective use
of goats to clear brush at the Hilo Soccer Field-a wonderful example for the other
Hawai'i Counties.
The almost weekly occurrence of studies being published to support the fact that
glyphosate in not only detrimental to human health but to our precious environment
can be highlighted in the fact that a few days ago,the government of Thailand voted to ban not
only the herbicide glyphosate, but paraquat and chlorpyrifos, effective this
December.As you probably know,the state of Hawai'i was the first in the nation to ban
Comm. No W- III
Ref. To:V prem,
Ref. Date—OCT 15 2019
the use of chlorpyrifos, followed by New York and recently California.
This link provides a list of countries and municipalities where glyphosate is banned:
https://www.baumhedIundlaw.com/toxic-tort-law/monsanto-roundup-lawsuit/where-is-
alvohosate-banned/
Mahalo in advance for your decision to protect your precious island resources and
inhabitants by voting to pass Bill 101,
Mary Jacques
P.O. Box 14
Hale'iwa, HI 96712