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http://hahaha.hamakuasprings.com/2014/06...rview.html.
The inside scoop why farmers sued the county over the anti GMO bill. Farmers play by the rules, the anti GMO bill changed the rules. The farmers want clarity. Only Big Island farmers are prohibited from using biotech solutions.Their competitors can. How is that fair? Farmers just want fair treatment.
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County corporate counsel could have saved the time and expense of a lawsuit by simply "setting aside" the law as was done with LLEP.
Of course, this requires County to admit it lacks authority for "home rule"...
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The people want clarity also. And safety, and health. The rule used to be simple: food was safe. Then the GMO/chemical companies changed that rule. You do not speak for all farmers, Richard, and you certainly don't speak for a majority of the people of this island. Quit spewing your GMO slogans and recognize the people's right to protect ourselves, and for non-GMO farmers to keep our crops safe from contamination.
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I guess it depends on the definition of "farmer" one uses. Multi-national corporations are not farmers. An individual is a farmer.
Be honest here Mr. Ha - the "rules" as you call them, were changed by the GMO folks and done in as much secrecy as possible from the public and you know it.
All anyone wanted in the beginning was to know what was being grown next door and what was being introduced into our food, simple disclosure and labeling. The GMO folks were not willing compromise even so little as to come to the table to discuss it. So they now have an all out, no compromise approach to an outright ban on GMO's.
If the GMO folks had been willing to compromise just a little in the beginning, they wouldn't have the backlash they are are experiencing now.
Will be interesting to see how the GMO "farmers" handle the contamination of their neighbors non-GMO fields in the future. I wonder what the GMO folks would say and do if their fields were to be contaminated by an outside source, from a neighboring field, or upstream source?
As a non-GMO farmer yourself, you know we don't need GMO farming here. There is no reason to have it here.
All the people want is to know without a doubt that the use of chemicals, GMO's, and biotech is being done with transparency. That is fair treatment.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence.
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It is not accurate to portray the farmers who are suing as pro GMO. More accurate would be pro science. We would go where the science takes us. Asking for a legal judgement is part of our constitutional rights. Whatever the outcome we intend to follow the law. We are asking for clarity and equal treatment!!
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Unfortunately, the anti-science mania has spread to Maui -- it's on the ballot there. If it wins, it should kill what little agriculture they tolerate over there.
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If there's no agriculture and no industry, what will be the basis of the islands' economies?
Tourism only works if it's "cost-effective" to the tourist -- with the price of gas, not so much.
What's left?
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Richard Ha is correct. Fundamentally the anti-GMO legislation is anti-science and, on the Big Island, farmers are the victims.
Very analogously, society has been working through disbelief in science in the case of global warming. The anti-science aspect of climate change denial has been evident for a long time. Currently, a politician that denies that humans are accelerating global warming is not believable. Krugman commented:
quote:
"So the real obstacle, as we try to confront global warming, is economic ideology reinforced by hostility to science."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/opinio...imate.html
Are we going to politically foster an anti-science climate on the Big Island? I hope we resist that.
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It seems like this lawsuit, on the behalf of 90% of the professional farmers on this island (meaning they make their entire livelihood from farming) is now going to force the county to define its specific plan for enforcement of this law. Thinking this is some kind of slap against Monsanto is believing slapping yourself in front of the mirror is how to hurt the reflection.
Just like people forgetting the initial reason for invading Iraq was hidden WMD, the initial reason for this ant-GMO mania was the "street cred" social media diagnosis that GMO was causing autism. Since this was brought up in the 90's and turned into mass hysteria, several studies have proven there is no connection between any GMO crop with autism or even any correlation with the increase in asthma. Increase in asthma can be caused by exposure to second hand smoke, this is well documented, and it is also documented that women are smoking more than men these days.
When you remove these two supposed horrible effects of GMO, then specifically what illness is GMO causing? Somehow, the emotionalism and hysteria of this subject over rides any knowledge, data or facts. Odd, these social media movements.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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Pete,
"Are we going to politically foster an anti-science climate on the Big Island? I hope we resist that."
On the whole I don't think the Big Island is anti-science, but there is a very loud minority in Puna (and, admittedly, elsewhere, but not as loud as here). Unfortunately, however, we have a Big Island county council who make decisions for us that are clearly anti-science. If this continues, and we vote or re-vote people into the council who are clearly fruitcakes and want to return to some sort of mediaevalism where everything was apparently better, then I suspect we're in trouble.
