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Written by Truth About Trade & Technology
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Thursday, 29 January 2009 18:41 |
AgBioView / Honolulu Advertiser
January 25, 2009
- Jay Fidell, The Honolulu Advertiser. Jan 25, 2009 http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com Via Agnet
Jay Fidell, a business lawyer practicing in Honolulu who has followed tech and tech policy closely and is a founder of ThinkTech Hawaii, writes in this piece that those who fuel the controversy on biotech crops call them GMOs - genetically modified organisms.
One thing we can expect in the Legislature this year is a hornet's nest of anti-GMO bills. In past Legislatures these bills have failed, but they keep coming back. Sadly, one-third of all of the anti-biotech bills in the country are introduced in Hawai'i.
Agriculture in Hawai'i is a $500 million business. To block research and thus the use and benefit of this technology will undoubtedly affect that business. Is that what we want?
The Big Island seems to be moving backward. A handful of anti-tech activists somehow enlisted the native Hawaiian community and the County Council into a permanent ban on research on biotech taro and coffee. Not only did they adopt this ban 9-0, over the opposition of the business farmers, but they then overrode Mayor Harry Kim's veto.
The council had lost touch with 21st century agriculture. This ban stifles our progress and reverses our history of agricultural achievement. It denies us technology that can protect and improve our crops, and it could darken the industry's outlook for years. The new council should step up and promptly reverse the ban.
In fact, biotech crops are more regulated than any other agricultural commodity in the country, with federal oversight by the USDA, EPA and FDA. Impulsive county actions like this ban create an overlay of regulation that inhibits investment in the industry. Clearly, the time has come for the state to step in and limit this kind of county rulemaking.
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