There have been many letters to the editor recently seeking to persuade our community that genetically engineered crops are a necessity for our future “agricultural toolbox” and that without them we will be at a competitive disadvantage. The cattlemen think they might someday want to grow GE corn to feed their grass-fed beef, the papaya farmers think that if Bill 113 passes, the reputation of the papaya will be “tainted,” and there are a few other farmers opposed to the bill because they hope that someday a GE (fill in the blank with the name of any crop) will be available and they might want to use it. Everyone is looking for a cheap and quick silver-bullet solution to control the pests, diseases and problems inherent in agriculture.
There have been many letters to the editor recently seeking to persuade our community that genetically engineered crops are a necessity for our future “agricultural toolbox” and that without them we will be at a competitive disadvantage. The cattlemen think they might someday want to grow GE corn to feed their grass-fed beef, the papaya farmers think that if Bill 113 passes, the reputation of the papaya will be “tainted,” and there are a few other farmers opposed to the bill because they hope that someday a GE (fill in the blank with the name of any crop) will be available and they might want to use it. Everyone is looking for a cheap and quick silver-bullet solution to control the pests, diseases and problems inherent in agriculture.
It has been known for thousands of years that soil fertility creates health in agricultural fields and the foods that come from them. Maybe we have forgotten that it wasn’t until after World War II that we started using the left over chemicals of war on our food to kill insects. Before that food had been grown organically since the beginning of agriculture. Today, we can hardly remember that there are non-GE, nonchemical proven workable solutions to the problems that farmers have faced since the beginning of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago.
Bill 113 seeks to limit future GE crops on Hawaii Island. It “exempts” all GE crops that are currently being grown here (papaya and corn silage) and provides an “emergency exemption” as a path for farmers to follow in the future, if they cannot find any workable solution to their agricultural problem.
Apparently, anyone who questions or opposes GE solutions to agriculture’s age-old problems are labeled as fear-mongering luddites. Letter after letter expounds on the virtues of GE foods and lists world agencies, associations and institutions that all agree that these foods are indeed perfectly safe for the environment and absolutely safe to eat. What they don’t say, is that none of these agencies, associations or institutions have ever studied or run experiments on any of these foods, including the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency. Everyone of them, without exception, accepts the biotech companies “research studies” as the absolute last word on safety. So basically, science is whatever the companies say it is.
Any technology that comes with “benefits” will usually come with risks as well, and often as history has proven, it sometimes takes many generations to understand that a new technology is unsafe. Only very recently have scientists at the University of California at Davis discovered that exposure to DDT when you are a child is now linked to hypertension in adults. In the rush to patent and own new technologies often these unforeseen consequences are not studied.
Even the scientists agree, we are at the dawn of these new technologies, and independent studies are needed, yet funding is difficult to obtain. There may come a time when there is a GE crop that does not harm the environment or human health, is not owned and patented by one of the world’s largest “life-science” corporations, and has real benefits for farmers. Until that time, Bill 113 will help Hawaii Island to be the “control group” in the grand biotech experiments currently being conducted on Kauai, Molokai, Oahu and Maui.
Everyone is looking to Hawaii Island to help broaden our state’s food future. There are nine new beginning farmer training programs statewide, and there is renewed interest from our youth to engage in market farming and seed to table direct marketing strategies. The University of Hawaii at West Oahu is beginning a new four-year degree in agroecology beginning in January. Let’s pass Bill 113 on Tuesday and help create a different future for Hawaii’s agriculture, one that embraces agroecological farming techniques and positions Hawaii Island as a green destination where one can come, rest and rejuvenate with healing foods and environments, and heal the stresses caused by modern life.
Gerry Herbert and Nancy Redfeather are the owners of Kawanui Farm in Kealakekua.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.