Maui and Molokai farmers express concern over proposed GMO and pesticide ban

Tuesday, Jan. 28, was a cold, wet and windy day, but the heavy weather did not deter the more than 100 people who packed the Maui County Council chambers in Wailuku. Of that number, more than 60 had signed up to testify by mid-day. Council staff said an estimated 70 to 100 more stood by to testify remotely from Molokai.

On the agenda was “Pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms” (PIA-58), introduced by Councilmember Elle Cochran. The proposed legislation was being heard for the first time in the council’s Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee (PIA) chaired by Councilmember Riki Hokama.

Almost unanimously, those who testified from the farm community opposed the legislation as “heavy-handed,” “punitive,” “draconian,” “anti-farmer” and “anti-agriculture.”

Related on the SLP

Bleeding of Aloha: Ugliness of the anti-GMO movement in Hawaii Faces of Molokai dependent on biotech industry with little say in proposed GMO ban

Ahead of the midterms, Meta has paid at least 29 anti-LGBTQ accounts for their posts

Viewpoint: RFK Jr.’s stacked FDA advisory council endorses multicancer screening test from ethically- questionable company that would increase false positives and waste billions of dollars

Viewpoint: The price Americans pay for science denialism

Read the full, original article: Maui & Molokai Farmers Have Their Say