KAPAA — Blaring car horns and drums cut through the usual traffic noise Saturday along Kuhio Highway in Kapaa as about 200 protesters waved signs and shouted chants against genetically modified crops and pesticides in Kauai. The protest, which was
KAPAA — Blaring car horns and drums cut through the usual traffic noise Saturday along Kuhio Highway in Kapaa as about 200 protesters waved signs and shouted chants against genetically modified crops and pesticides in Kauai.
The protest, which was organized by the local arm of Koloa-based nonprofit Hawaii SEED, GMO-Free Kauai, was a part of an inaugural worldwide protest against U.S. seed giant Monsanto that took place in at least 250 cities and 26 countries, according to a May 1 news release on the March Against Monsanto website.
Encyclopedia Britannica defines a genetically modified organism as an “organism whose genome has been engineered in the laboratory in order to favour the expression of desired physiological traits or the production of desired biological products.”
GMO-Free Kauai co-founder Blake Drolson said he, like many protesters, are concerned about the adverse short- and long-term environmental and health impacts that GMO crops and pesticides could have on local residents and the environment.
Drolson said he would ultimately like to see increased transparency from local seed companies and a long-term shift away from GMO crops and pesticides.
“The awareness is definitely rising, and people are definitely stepping out in their desire for a clean community,” Drolson said. “A couple of years ago, we would have rallies and only about 20 people would come out here, so things really are changing — the awareness is changing, the energy is building and I definitely feel that people are becoming aware of what is happening on our island.”
Moloaa resident Mose Orion agreed and pointed to his green sign that read, “The Tide Has Turned,” in bold black letters.
“We need a clean industry on the island rather than GMOs and that’s just one side of it,” Orion said. “I don’t think GMOs are very good for human kind anyway. On our island, I think it’s just too closed of an ecosystem to have something like that tested here.”
Local seed industry officials disagree and contend that the island’s four seed companies — DuPont Pioneer, BASF, Syngenta and DOW Agrosciences — are doing work that will benefit crop producers worldwide.
Alicia Maluafiti, the executive director of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, said in an e-mailed statement during the rally that GMOs “are the most tested and regulated crops and the scientific consensus about their safety is overwhelming.”
“We value the concerns of the public and are committed to transparency and welcome respectful and open dialogue with anyone genuinely interested in learning more about what we do,” Maluafiti said.
In a TGI phone interview after the rally, Maluafiti said the protest was the result of “intentional fearmongering” and explained that seeds and pesticides, in some cases, undergo a six- to 10-year screening process before they arrive in Hawaii.
“If you tell people that we’re testing bio-tech crops, chemicals and pesticides, it leads people to believe that this is an unregulated, illegal activity that is going to cause health and safety issues with the people, and that’s misinformation,” Maluafiti said. “It’s hard to correct that once it’s out there, because it’s a great soundbite.”
Representatives from Syngenta and DuPont Pioneer did not return calls or emails by press time.
