Hawaiians Win Community GMO Victory Over Monsanto
Published on Wednesday, November 05, 2014
by Common Dreams
Hawaiians Win Community GMO Victory Over Monsanto
GMO bans pass in counties in Hawaii and California, while millions in industry spending drown out labeling efforts in Colorado
by Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Residents of Maui County in Hawaii, frequently referred to as 'GMO Ground Zero,' claimed a victory Tuesday evening when a measure to ban the planting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) passed with 50.2 percent.
Agribusiness giants Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences, which for decades have run enormous growing and testing operations on the island, spent nearly $8 million dollars to defeat the ban, making it the most expensive campaign in Hawaii's history, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.
Known as the Maui County Genetically Modified Organism Moratorium Initiative, the measure will ban all GMO growth, testing or cultivation in the county until an environmental and public health study is conducted and finds the proposed cultivation practices to be safe and harmless.
"I think that this is a really strong message to the entire agrochemical industry in the state of Hawaii that we are no longer going to sit idly by and watch them expand their operations without the kinds of regulations that ensure the health and safety of people across Hawaii," Ashley Lukens, who directs the Hawaii chapter of the Center for Food Safety, told Civil Beat.
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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/11/05/hawaiians-win-community-gmo-victory-over-monsanto