Big Island *takes first step* in banning GMO's

[deserteagle50ae]

I'd rather have what little agriculture we have now than nothing at all in the future,i agree with robguz!!!

[OpenD]

quote:

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Originally posted by rainyjim

"The current legislation will severely restrict farming being viable here in the long term as various crops face new introduced diseases and pests."

This is a fabrication. The island currently has very little agriculture despite claims otherwise.

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It's hard to pull up current data because USDA sites are down due to the federal shutdown. But the 2007 figures showed that agriculture in Hawai'i County was valued at $203,000,000 per year then, which was 40% of the state total. It's not as big as tourism, but it's a significant segment of our economy.

It's also notable that this year the value of the seed industry alone, which is virtually all on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai at the moment, is $211,000,000 and that the biggest single financial impact of banning transgenic crops on the Big Island will be to keep that industry from expanding to our county.

[HawaiiTedd]

Mahalo for the thread title correction Aaron.

[robguz]

quote:

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Originally posted by Aaron

Again, Robguz, I do agree with you, or more aptly your situation/reason for GMin' Bananas. To prevent extinction. I don't agree with it completely, but I do side more so with that use of GM, than opposed to the super-pesticide resistant, or pesticide producing, and especially the animal DNA Splicing. Thanks for your input, it makes much sense.

Living on the side of creation.

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Thanks Aaron, that's why I think an outright ban is really not the way to go. There are quite big differences in the use of GM. Some seems more disturbing, and some seem totally innocuous. The complexity of the issue and the use of of GM in various ways argues that addressing the issue requires the same degree of detail and complexity and should be addressed on a case by case basis. Even then, probably not at the county government level where it probably won't hold up in court anyway. Thanks for your consideration of reasonable argument. There are certainly ways to have nuanced views about GM crops without being a supporter of big agribusiness companies or their practices.

[OpenD]

Today Kauai County Council approved a bill 6-1 that does not ban anything. It takes a much more reasonable approach, IMHO, and requires notice about pesticide use and GMO growth, plus establishing buffer zones. I think it is workable, and provides desired safeguards to the public, while not putting anybody out of business.

I'd like to see the current Hawai'i County bill ditched, and this arrangement take its place.

[TomK]

OpenD - I just hope the council adopt a rational approach when making their decision. I'm not hopeful they will though. There's just too much scaremongering going on that includes people who have a real conflict of interest in the debate but might influence where we go from here. Scaremongering seems to be coming more prevalent in many places and think this is a place that is really susceptible to it, so I fear for other industries that various minorities want to change.

[peteadams]

Apparently the council did not apply a rational approach and voted 6-2 to affirm the anti-GMO bill. One more reading required to move the bill to the mayor. The opposing council members were Dennis Onishi and Greggor Illagan. I was surprised by Zendo Kern's absence from the voting, but less so after his initial endorsement of the bill. Also I received no response after sending my email comments to the council testimony, cc'ing him and the mayor's office. I received a prompt response from the mayor's office indicating they were following the GMO discussion closely and would take a look at the Punaweb comments. Receiving that message was a pleasant surprise, thank you Mayor! However, zip from Zendo. Having previously thought of Mr. Kern as relatively up to date and informed person, I will now be looking for an alternative candidate with a rational approach to governing. And who shows up for council votes.

[kalakoa]

My favorite part? Someone on the GMO committee bothered to ask the State whether the rules would be enforceable, the State gave a wishy-washy non-answer, so the request was withdrawn, and the GMO legislation continues to move forward.

I'm pretty sure the County doesn't have the authority to regulate, and the State could have saved everyone's time/money by clarifying that issue; as it is, everyone seems content to watch the County waste its time passing laws that cannot be enforced later -- after all, why should anyone try to save taxpayer dollars, least of all the State?

Note that this entire issue is a completely separate problem that has nothing to do with GMO itself, and could be equally applied to many County/State activities: "Sure, do whatever you want, we'll get around to saying NO after your money is spent."

[Obie]

And then there is this,our County Council has chosen to ignore all of the scientific studies and take the word of a bunch of unqualified fear-mongers.The expert witness they listened to has been called a flim-flam man and believes he can fly !!

Forward this to the council and the mayor !!!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/20...stainable/

[PauHana]

We don't need no stinkin science!