Comments from Sam Small, Executive Director, Maui Causes:
Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘aina i ka pono. Makana offers what seems a better translation: “Life is sustained through a balanced relationship with the land.”
Nice article. It is important to understand that just because we demand tests on the specifics of GMO open field GMO practices and experiments, which by design includes heavy applications of herbicides like Round Up, we are not anti-science. Far from it. Some GM technologies are very beneficial, like GM insulin. However, not all GM initiative are so transparent and beneficial. Unfortunately, big Wall St. driven corporations have co-opted much of the research around the technology, especially when it comes to food production. Their corporate advertising talks about feeding the world as if they were philanthropists, but by law a publicly held corporation must put the interests of it shareholders first, the profit motive is paramount. So feeding the world is not what they are after, rather, like any good company, they are pursuing domination of their marketplace. Unfortunately that’ not in the best interest of the world’s population, other than perhaps the company’s shareholders.
The United Nation study on food showed clearly that chemical dependent mono cropping is not sustainable. Small scale organic farming is what they advocated instead. But since that does not fuel corporate profits that message is being ignored.
And as to the question of harm. Even leaving the Transgenetic technologies aside, the simple fact ios that we are flooding our nation with potent chemicals that do seem to be having an impact on our population. Americans are sicker than ever before with a wide and increasing array of maladies that correlate to the introduction of Glyphosate (RoundUp) into our environment. Of course correlation does not prove causation but it does beg the question and since the companies have never tested their chemicals in the combinations as they are applied in the fields, or for any longer duration than 90 days, it seems reasonable to press for what Maui Moratorium demands.
If Monsanto was as desirous of transparency as they claim they wouldn’t have bothered to waste $8 Million spreading lies about the moratorium they would have put that money into doing the tests that the majority of voters in Maui County voted for. They wouldn’t be spending countless millions more fighting us in court.
Eisenhower warned our nation of the unreasonable influence the the military industrial complex would assert over our laws and institution. GM Crops and the chemicals they demand are a part of all that and we’d do well to heed the warning, today more than ever.