HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0489.140 2018-2020 From: Jen Magoon
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Please vote in favor of Bill 101
Date: Sunday,October 13,2019 5:18:44 PM
Aloha Honorable County of Hawaii Council members,
Please vote in favor of Bill 101 to limit the County's use of chemical herbicides.
I am a mother of two keiki and I want them to have the healthiest life possible. In my
graduate degree I studied the link between pesticide exposure and human health. So it scares
me that herbicides are being sprayed along the roads and in our parks,making it guaranteed
that my keiki will be exposed. Children have unique susceptibilities to the potential toxicity of
herbicides, yet they are still being exposed every day when they go to County parks or walk or
ride along the roads.
Long-term exposure is linked with increased risks of cancer including non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, as we learned from the recent visit by Dewayne Lee Johnson,the school
groundskeeper who won the lawsuit against Monsanto for the connection between Roundup
and his cancer. It is also connected to miscarriages, attention deficit disorder and reduced
production of sex hormones. It can also trigger aggressive breast cancer when combined with
other risk factors.
Studies indicate that glyphosate can contaminate streams,which empty into our oceans, and
affect sea life including fish and coral. Problems with drift of glyphosate herbicides occur
frequently.
Fortunately,the County has chosen alternatives to toxic chemicals, such as the choice to use
goats to clear brush at the Hilo Soccer Field. It was more cost-effective than regular
maintenance, and safe for our communities, streams and coastline ecosystems,too! Let's
expand these non-toxic alternatives, and transition away from the use of toxic chemicals for
land management. Some municipalities even use steam to control vegetation along road ways
-there are options!
Mahalo,
Jen Magoon
Hawi
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