Kona Coffee - GMO Ban Proposed
Hawaii County is back on the cutting edge of the movement to completely ban the introduction of genetically modified coffee and taro, and I wholeheartedly applaud the County Council for taking this important step forward.
The County Council Environmental Management Committee brought a bill to the full council yesterday that would make it illegal to “test, propagate, raise, plant, grow, introduce or release genetically engineered taro and coffee.” Well, it can hardly get better than that! County Corporation Counsel and the county Prosecutor’s Office are also on board, both having reviewed the bill before it went to the full council and finding no fault with it.
Angel Pilago, Council Vice Chairman and candidate for Hawaii County Mayor in the next election, introduced the bill. In my mind, that was a very smart move on his part. This is a crucial issue for the people of the Big Island, and he is sure to garner a great deal of political support from taro and coffee farmers who are solidly against GMO crops in Hawaii Nei.
As always, there is a catch. The Hawaii state legislature could, conceivably, create a law that supersedes county law. But our county Corporation Counsel has said it would depend on the exact wording of such a law. And there is no such law before the state legislature at this moment in time.
Second catch: it has to pass. I think it is likely. Even council member Dominic Yagong from Hamakua (ha-ma-coo-ah) on the northeast side of the island, who is not really against GMO in principle, has gone on record stating that he is against the introduction of GMO plants when the farmers oppose it. For coffee and taro, that is certainly the case, with strong economic and cultural reasons behind the opposition. So there should be enough votes to see it through. I certainly hope so.
Ten of twelve citizens testifying before the council came out fervently in support of the bill. I think that is probably a representative proportion of all the voters on the island.
This is a very exciting and long-awaited development. I’ll let you know when we have a final outcome.
