Musings: It's Time

It's been fascinating to monitor the antis' reaction to Friday's court decision striking down the three flawed Hawaii laws that tried to regulate GMOs and pesticides at the county level.

In a truly Orwellian response, the Center for Food Safety and Maui's SHAKA actually pronounced the rulings “a groundbreaking win” and “precedent-setting.” Right. Like they spent all that time and money just to confirm what the court had previously decided in other cases: 

Rep. Chris Lee, a CFS-endorsed candidate who chairs the state House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, came out with a mealy-mouthed statement about how “there’s a middle road that can satisfy everyone that ensures public safety and doesn’t put an undue burden on anyone.”

This from the man who recently released a video regurgiating all the CFS talking points and proclaiming Hawaii CFS Director Ashley Lukens a good friend. Yeah, Chris, we're sure you'll be even-handed as you bootlick CFS.

Earthjustice's Paul Achitoff, despite losing first in District Court and then on appeal to the 9th Circuit Court, still maintains that he knows best, and the three-member appeals panel “misinterpreted Hawaii law.” But then, if Achitoff admits he blew it big time, he can't keep using this issue to raise money.

Defeated Kauai Councilman Gary Hooser used his HAPA group to sic folks on Gov. Ige and demand he implement all the recommendations of the Joint Fact-Finding Group. Never mind that Peter Adler stacked the JFFG with antis, who issued a report that reflected their own biases. And it's clearly time to more closely scrutinize HAPA, which masquerades as an “educational nonprofit” as it actively lobbies and engages in partisan politics.

Hooser also took to his blog to viciously attack columnist Allan Parachini for daring to cast aspersions on the political motivations of Hooser and the late Tim Bynum, who severely polarized Kauai with their Bill 2491. Hooser huffed:

It is fine to express different opinions on issues, but questioning motive and intent is the same as questioning character and integrity.

So then why does Hooser continually question the motives and intentions of officials serving in the state departments of Health and Agriculture, those of us who have supported biotech, Beth Tokioka in agreeing to serve on the Kauai water board, and the citizens who elected Arthur Brun, a Syngenta employee and dedicated community volunteer, to the County Council?

And even if Hooser and Bynum did launch Bill 2491 with good intentions, they quickly fell off the high road when they decided to lie, fear-monger and promote mob action to advance their cause. Their strategy tells us all we need to know about their character and integrity.

Meanwhile, some of the antis are so deep in their echo chambers that they only now discovered Brun has a criminal record — something I covered back in the 2014 election. Rather than admit they weren't paying attention, and it's actually an inspiring story of rehabilitation and redemption, they instead start finger-pointing, which is what the antis do best: 

Gee, Andy. Might want to practice what you preach.... 

And while Friday's ruling made it clear that there is no health risk associated with eating GMOs, the antis ignored that to focus solely on the possible downsides of growing the crops — all of which were long ago recognized by the companies and scientists who developed the crops and the agencies that regulate them. The judges didn't come up with anything new.

Though their responses differed slightly, the antis remain united in their delusion that Hawaii's people and aina are somehow being harmed by these crops. And they all again uttered the false claim that the state has failed to regulate or protect — even as they call, ironically, for more state regulations and protections.

The reality, of course, is quite different. Even the biased JFFG had to admit there was no documented harm to either Hawaii's people or environment from the cultivation of these crops. Not one of the studies conducted to date, even those done by the antis themselves, has detected pesticide residues at anything other than trace levels, far below safe exposure standards.

The state already has announced it plans to soon begin monitoring surface water around agricultural fields, golf courses and urban areas for pesticide residue.

The state DOA has also referred several cases of suspected pesticide misuse to the EPA for further investigation, proving the regulatory process is indeed functioning properly.

And even Hooser, in trying to take credit for these actions, admitted the seed companies are disclosing pesticide use and no longer spraying fields next to schools. 

Though the Hawaii anti-GMO movement continues to chant buzzwords like “health” and “protection,” the issue in the Islands has never been about either.

It has always been a movement orchestrated and funded by mainland anti-GMO groups bound and determined to oust the seed companies from Hawaii as a way to disrupt the parent seed production that supports GMO crops around the world.

Along the way, it's tag-teamed with the utopian farm movement, which seeks to replace production agriculture with backyard organic farms — despite the inefficiencies, impracticalities, delusions and environmental ramifications of such an approach.

Hawaii can't afford, socially or economically, for this mainland agenda to further disrupt or distract the state Legislature.

It's time to start healing from the polarization that these groups inflicted on Hawaii to advance their own goals, and begin focusing on the many issues that actually do impact Islanders: affordable housing, substance abuse, education and transportation.

Which means it's time to get the non-farming activists out of agriculture and let the real farmers farm in peace.