More than 500 jobs and millions of tax dollars could be lost if a moratorium on the cultivation of genetically engineered organisms passes, two Maui County seed companies say. Monsanto has 540 employees on Maui and Molokai, The Maui News reported. Its county tax bill was $3.5 million last year. Dow AgroSciences affiliate Mycogen Seeds employs more than 90 people on Molokai.
A proposed ballot initiative calls for the suspension of all “genetically engineered operations and practices” in Maui County until companies prove the activity is safe. The county council has until Aug. 5 to adopt the proposal. The initiative will appear on the Nov. 4 general election ballot if the council doesn’t adopt it.
“Are we always willing to trade off our health? Our lives? For low wages now?” said SHAKA official Mark Sheehan in an email. Sheehan said that the seed companies should find temporary work for their workers if the initiative is passed and studies mandated. If studies show that their crops and chemicals used are harmless, “then no problem.”
Read the full, original article: Maui seed companies say genetic engineering moratorium could wipe out hundreds of jobs
