• ‘Island Earth’ message a good one
‘Island Earth’ message a good one
Aloha, saw a great movie at KCC last night. “Island Earth” was a documentary about the GMO corporations. What started out as a scientific experiment to feed the world morphed into a poison-for-profit business. Creating drought- and frost-resistant produce is a great idea. Saturating produce with dangerous pesticides not a good idea.
Pesticides do kill unwanted pests like fungus, bacteria, weeds, harmful insects and so on. That’s the good news. The bad news is pesticides also have adverse effects on unintended targets, humans, birds, beneficial insects, our water and so on. So you might ask yourself “Why don’t these companies try to find a safer solution to these problems?”
Well, to date there is not as much profit in organic pest control, which is going to change with your help. Always look for organic substitutes for garden products such as Round-up. It does kill weeds, but it harms other living things and there are safer alternatives.
What these companies don’t want you to know is how dangerous these chemicals are. There was a report given by the ag companies when they were participating briefly in the Good Neighbor program that in one month over a thousand pounds/gallons of RUPs (restricted use pesticides) were applied to our lands.
In one year that’s 12,000 gallons/pounds of poison being applied to our beautiful island. This is if they are telling the truth about what they are doing. These companies tend to minimize their destructive ways. Case in point, Atrazine is one of the RUPs used by these companies. It has been banned in Europe since 2004.
Why? Because it was shown to cause birth defects, cancer and reproductive issues. The ag company DOW did an analysis of water at Waimea Canyon School to see if they could detect Atrazine in ground water and found “no Atrazine in the ground water.” Samples by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2011 that same year turned up positive results for Atrazine. Surprise! Out-and-out lying.
We had an excellent showing last night of concerned citizens; our voice is growing. Westside people, where is your Erin Brokovich? When a whole neighborhood bordering the ag fields has cancer in every household, it needs to be shouted from the highest mountaintop. Enough already!
We need loud voices, big action and prayers. Contact any state official with your concerns, call write, e-mail, whatever it takes, let them know you refuse to be poisoned any longer. Don’t forget, squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Linda Bothe, Kalaheo
