Historic bill to ban new GMO food crops in Hawaii County
Hearing to continue Wednesday 9AM at offices noted below.
Aloha kakou,
Today was historic!
There was a huge turnout of hundreds of people at County offices in Hilo, Kona, Ka’u, Pahoa and Waimea to testify on Bill 79 introduced by Councilwoman Margaret Wille to ban any new GMO food crops in Hawaii County. (450 people registered to speak today.) I went to testify in Hilo by video conference to the actual meeting in Kona. I got there at 8AM and people were already there to testify for the meeting starting at 9. For the first 2 and 1/2 hours, ALL the testimony given on a rotating basis among the various offices was IN SUPPORT of Bill 79. The first person to oppose the bill was a testifier in Hilo –Mark Phillipson for an organization called “Crop Improvement Association.” It turns out this organization is made up of Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, and Pioneer –all GMO companies, and Mark Phillipson is the general manager of Syngenta Hawaii. Also opposing the bill was Alan Takemoto, the Monsanto Hawaii representative and former executive director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau. I stayed until after 4PM and was very moved by all the excellent testimony in support of the bill. The testimony against mainly came from GMO Papaya farmers concerned about their livelihood even though Bill 79, as written, exempts GMO papayas from the ban. The bill also exempts horticulture. It focuses on banning future GMO food crops. Testimony was running about 8 to 1 in favor of Bill 79
If possible, I urge you to go and testify (3 minute limit) at one of the county offices on Wednesday. I think written testimony in support of Bill 79 to ban new GMOs can still be emailed to counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us If testimony is not accepted there either call or email council members directly, but please make your voice heard. Mahalo.
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Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org
PS I include below my oral testimony I gave today.
July 2, 2013
Support for Bill 79
Aloha Council members,
I’ve been farming in Kurtistown for 33 years and have grown a wide range of organic fruits and vegetables.
I urge your support of Bill 79. This bill is historic. It’s an opportunity to make a pro-active choice for the future direction of agriculture on Hawaii Island. The choice of Bill 79 is clear. To support Bill 79 is to prohibit future GMO food crops and big agrochemical corporate interests from controlling and dominating agriculture in our county. Bill79 supports a policy of aloha ‘aina. It opens up possibilities for Hawaii County to prosper as a GMO-free food crop area, with the exception of GMO papayas To oppose Bill 79 is to choose to stand with monopoly corporate interests –Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, etc. who put short term profits and control of the world’s seed supply before concerns of people’s health and safety and the life of the land. These mammoth corporations simply view Hawaii’s land as a commodity to be exploited for their personal gain. If and when there are irreparable unintended consequences, they will cut and run, taking their profits and leaving Hawaii’s people and land with their mess.
Henry Kissinger said, “Control oil and you control nations. Control food and you control the people.” Bill 79 is about who is going to control food crops in Hawaii County: our local people or transnational corporations.
If our earth survives the effects of human made climate change and global warming, the future of farming will not be oil/chemical, monocrop, industrial based, and profit driven agribusiness. The future of farming will be small-scale organic, a return to nature with complete respect for natural processes and the environment. It will be about respect for the farmer, air, land, and water, and safe and nutritious food. It will be about reverence for, and interdependence with, all other species.
Native people the world over talk about the trees being the bones, the soil being the flesh and the rivers and streams the blood of the planet. When we destroy them, we destroy ourselves. We need to listen more to the wisdom of native people and less to genetic engineers.
Genetic Engineering (GE) and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not part of the natural process. The unintended consequences of GMOs like the consequences of global warming, may be irreparable. Given such possibilities it is time to practice the precautionary principle. It is the pono thing to do for people, plants, and animals, for the land, for the water, the air, for the earth itself.
The big question is one of political will to turn away from the corporate model where everything is viewed as a commodity to be bought and sold for a profit, and begin to restore what we have lost. Passing bill 79 is a step in the right direction.
Jim Albertini
