In November 2013, the Hawaii County Council passed Bill 113 to prohibit open-air cultivation of genetically modified plants and crops with a vote of 6 to 3, after six long months of public testimony and deliberation.

Passage followed a tumultuous veto override of Kauai’s pesticide bill that was aimed at the spraying of biotech fields on that island.

These two pieces of legislation have been years in the making as a result of the impact the GMO industry has had in Hawaii and all around the world.

Corn, the great U. S. commodity, is at the center of the GMO debate and a lesson can be taken from its woes.

The American Corn Growers Association representing over 14,000 U.S. corn growers issued more bad news to its members about the impact GMO corn has had on their industry: “Japan and South Korea are buying non-GMO corn from Brazil and China instead of buying U.S. corn.

The USDA lowered its corn export forecast by another 50 million bushels. American farmers cannot be expected to pick up the tab for a shortsighted U.S. biotech policy that suggests foreign consumers and importers will ultimately be forced to accept GMOs.

It’s time for the Administration, the U.S. Congress and the farm and commodity organizations that support current farm and GMO policies to admit that they’re wrong on both counts. These two policies are throwing away our export markets while driving down corn prices and driving up federal farm program costs. Both policies are major failures. They need to be changed quickly before their negative impact is reflected in land values and the farm economy is thrown into a major collapse.”

Hawaii’s GMO papaya has taken the same path of falling production and shrinking returns. Papaya sales for 2011 hit a low of $9 million, down from $15 million in 1998, just before the introduction of the GMO papaya.

Yet proponents of GMO agriculture want more time to research and think about GMO agriculture in great detail, according to Big Island grower, Richard Ha.

The great experiment is taking place beyond our shores and it is the experience of other growers impacted by GMOs that we need to research and think about.

Twenty years in the ground has shown us the reality of GMOs: contamination is causing the rejection of U.S. rice, corn, canola, alfalfa, and wheat bound for export, the mass dying-off of pollinators from toxic GMO seed coating, farmers being sued by biotech corporations for patent infringement due to involuntary contamination, and on Hawaii Island, GMO papaya contamination is now impossible to clean up, allowing it to be exempt from the restrictions in the bill.

In 2011, U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, wrote an open letter to stakeholders: “The rapid adoption of GE crops has clashed with the rapid expansion of demand for organic and other non-GE products. This clash led to litigation and uncertainty. Such litigation will potentially lead to the courts deciding who gets to farm their way and who will be prevented from doing so.”

Here is what needs to be paid a great deal of attention and thought in Hawaii:

Why are residents in an uproar over GMO planting?

Who will compensate the grower for GMO crop contamination?

Who will compensate them for the loss of livelihood of non-GMO growers?

Who will regulate the GMO contaminator?

How will Hawaii agriculture fare when non-GMO crops cannot be grown alongside GMOs?

If the State of Hawaii merely follows federal regulations, how will residents mitigate the damage of more toxic chemicals such as 2,4-D (dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) now being planned for future herbicide resistant GMO crops?

The call for “time to think it over” is a tactic to kill the bill.

If the world outside Hawaii cannot come to terms with GMOs, how will we?

Nearly every aspect of the issue was brought up during the six months of testimony, along with opinions of experts for both sides. The Secretary of Agriculture admits that only one side will be able to grow.

The intent of the bill is to hold in place before the island is overrun by biotech crops, and the Hawaii County Council has voted for this stop-gap measure since no edible GMO crops except for papaya have yet been grown. And, yes, Mr. Ha, it is about openly cultivated GMOs versus non-GMOs.

About the author: Merle Inouye is a food safety advocate, writer and ceramic potter who lives in Hilo and grows food using natural farming methods.

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