The Poisoning of Hawaiian Soil by GMO and AgriBiz, Part 2

DuPont/pioneer’s agribusiness fields above Kauai’s westside town of Waimea. More than a hundred residents are party to a lawsuit alleging health problems due to pesticide & herbicide drift.

Photo and caption by Wayne Jacintho

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There is intense debate over the effect of the giant corporations such as Dow and Monsanto and the effect that their GMO/chemical/poison activities are having on Hawaiian land, water, people, and other living beings.

One thing that gave me pause was the group of uber environmentalists in my neck of the woods (such as the Environmental Action Committee) who have shut down the sustainable, local, organic Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, and basically seek to curtail any hunting, fishing, and farming on public land

In asking around here, one very articulate person said that although he didn’t trust the chemical companies, he felt that their opponents (enviros) were often cooking the figures in their opposition to agribiz. “If they keep crying wolf, the wolf is gonna come eat us,” is how he put it. He said there needs to be more research and it needs to be more nuanced.

Fair enough, another person said, but on the other side, the chemical companies are consistently lying. I haven’t researched the issue at depth, but intuition tells me there is something seriously wrong going on here. Look into it if you’re interested. Here are 2 references from Wayne Jacintho:

Summary in Huffington post:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-brower/gmos-kauai-tpp_b_3883371.html

This looks to be fairly balanced committee—just set up:

https://thegardenisland.com/news/local/members-selected-for-gmo-pesticide-study/article_db4d6042-a846-11e4-b87f-7f3cc8ce7d39.html?_dc=322015724610.5373

I asked Wayne who are the people battling Dow, Monsanto, et al. He replied:”Anyone who

 cares about human health and the environment, about people and creatures being poisoned, about clean water and air and soil.”