Maui County voters opted Tuesday, Nov. 3, to temporarily ban the cultivation of genetically engineered crops after a hard-fought campaign featuring $8 million in advertising from some of the world’s largest corn-seed producers.The ban passed by a narrow margin, with 50 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed. Blank votes accounted for the balance. The moratorium would be in place until the county council reviews safety studies on growing the crops. The studies would be paid for by the seed companies but administered by the county.Maui County is home to just 160,000 residents, but the moratorium could have effects across the nation because multinational seed producers Monsanto Co. and Dow Chemical research new varieties there.“People care passionately about the fact that we are ground zero for the manufacture of these seeds that are going around the world. And that we are a testing ground,” said Mark Sheehan, a leader of the group that got the measure on the ballot.Monsanto spent $5.1 million and Dow AgroSciences, which is part of Dow Chemical, spent nearly $1.8 million to fight the ban, according to figures from the state Campaign Spending Commission, The Maui News reported.Kauai County earlier this year passed a law regulating GMO crops and pesticide use. A judge blocked its implementation saying federal law pre-empts local law on the issue. The case is currently before a federal appeals court. The Big Island this year adopted a GMO crop ban with some exceptions. This law is also being challenged in court.GMOs are plants that have been modified by direct manipulation of their genome. They have been in existence for over two decades, and introduced commercially for 17 years. According to the journal, “Nature,” the purpose behind these modifications is to grow as much food as possible, and to help create medicine. Activists have been concerned about negative effects of GMOs on long-term human and ecological health.“I’m not fully entirely sure if GMO is good or bad. My belief is that I can’t fully support or allow something I don’t entirely know. If GMO is not telling us the impact it has on the environment, to the native fishes, birds, etc. I don’t want to stand by and let them destroy the beautiful island that is the only home of these native species,” said Sam Wassen, president of the Hawaii Student Association, and a junior from Hauula majoring in Hawaiian studies.GMO papayas, called Rainbow papayas, are the most common GMO product in Hawaii. More than 3/4 of papayas grown on the Big Island are Rainbow and have been modified to be resistant to the ringspot virus that wiped out most of the Hawaii-grown papaya crop in 1995. New York Times author Amy Harmon told the story of Hawaii Councilman Greggor Ilagan’s research in preparation for voting on a GMO ban in 2013. Harmon wrote local papaya farmers were against the ban. Harmon said, “If Mr. Ilagan’s worried about big biotechnology companies, the Rainbow should reassure him. Developed primarily by scientists at academic institutions, it was a model for how the technology could benefit small farmers. Its lead developer, the Hawaiian-born Dennis Gonsalves, was, along with others on the team, awarded the 2002 Humboldt Prize for the most significant contribution to U.S. agriculture in five years. And because the virus was spread by insects, which growers had sought to control with pesticide sprays, the Rainbow had reduced the use of chemicals.”There has been little validated scientific evidence that GMOs harm people’s health, and 11 scientists, including two Nobel Prize Winners, wrote an opinion article in the journal, “Science,” advocating for GMOs. “We, and the thousands of other scientists who have signed the statement of protest, stand together in staunch opposition to the violent destruction of required tests on valuable advances...that have the potential to save millions of impoverished fellow humans from needless suffering and death,” they wrote. However, in Hawaii, anti-GMO movements don’t just focus on health dangers, but also worry about the control bio-tech companies will gain over the islands. Sheehan told AP, “What’s at stake is whether corporations can come in here and run our island as a chemical experiment where they ship out the profits and we have to deal with the pollutants.”
Writer: Samone Isom ~ Multimedia Journalist
