Letters 11-23-13

Mayor, please sign Bill 113 into law

Mayor, please sign Bill 113 into law

To Mayor William Kenoi,

You have a great opportunity to place Hawaii Island and your enlightened leadership on the global stage by signing the genetically modified organisms prohibition Bill 113. Make history by adopting an important stop-gap measure, heeding the experience of multitudes of growers from around the world: GMOs contaminate. Do not let another form of invasive species land on these shores. Protect the aina. Protect the people.

The Hawaii County Council in its wisdom allows for agricultural emergencies in the bill to balance the risk for all growers. The council exempts GMO papaya because it is impossible to clean up the contamination. The council realizes that groups can rationalize the need for GMOs, but has chosen instead to fill the regulatory void, acknowledging that the entire agriculture sector should not be overtaken by a patented technology offering protections to just one side. The council in its wisdom heeds the call of the majority of its constituents.

Without this law, there would be no limit to the expansion of the GMO corn fields on the Hamakua Coast and elsewhere on this island. Without this law and the lack of gederal and state leadership, growers and the county would have no protections from contamination or crop losses. Without this law, damage to the web of life, the surrounding environment and the sea from GMO DNA in field runoff could never be cleaned up.

If your concern is one of economics, please note that GMO papaya sales have dropped from $15 million in 1998 to just $9 million in 2011, because of global consumer rejection of GMOs. By signing this bill, all export agriculture can proudly claim that it is non-GMO, and Hawaii’s growers can prosper under this greatly appreciated and coveted image.

Merle Hayward

Hilo