In case it helps, I’d like to add a little clarity to the gmo debate.
It’s not really farmers creating the problem. It’s 7 chemical companies whose pesticides are showing up in newborn babies on Kauai. Mom’s who live near the fields are experiencing birth defects while neighbors are dropping like flies from cancers the local Doctors can’t identify.
Modifying genes may or may not be bad depending on whether or not you’ve given permission to have your genes altered. But pesticides in the air (drift volatilization) and water supplies (streams bordering farms, underground aquifers etc.) are a real problem.
But ultimately, these problems could be solved by voters. The strategy of the chemical companies has been unique. They are buying state and federal politicians in an effort to preempt counties from creating local safety laws.
Kauai was the 14th county in the US to create a law (Ordinance 960) which would have required a buffer zone between schools, hospitals and homes and fields where the pesticides are being sprayed. However, a federal magistrate over-ruled ordinance 960 (previously bill 2491) claiming state and federal regulations preempted local law.
Nothing really new except that Hawaii Law requires precaution and clearly states the opposite of what the fed ruled. The point is this:
It is easier to buy 1-200 state politicians and another 500 federal politicians than it is to buy county council members and county administration votes in 4,000 US counties. Buy the state and fed regulators and you own the country. We have a clip from the local syngenta manager claiming that this is the reason they are suing Kauai County and now Hawaii County and soon Maui County for creating local safety laws.
All of the Federal officials from the EPA and every other Federal government department have already been bought. Most of the folks in charge used to work for Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont-Pioneer, BASF or others. There are infographics which better describe the collusion.
I listened to nearly every single testifier on Kauai during the 6 months leading up to our win for ordinance 960 that was overturned and I can promise you that these companies have evil intentions. For what it’s worth, every single county council meeting on kauai was jam packed with folks wanting to reduce pesticide use. Every gmo seed in the world originates from Kauai and the amount of pesticides is unbelievable at first.
It’s not about the food you eat, the labeling of said foods or the fact that nearly all of these companies worked for Hitler at one time (from Zyklon-B to Agent Orange). The problem is that we can no longer create local laws (aka Home Rule) without being over-ruled by big chemical company paid supporters.
The battle isn’t over. It also cannot be won until more voters understand how local, state and federal politics should work in a democracy and why it’s absolutely critical to maintain a strong home rule in our local communities where the politicians have to walk the same streets and live in the same neighborhoods as the voters.
Sorry for the long post. Maybe folks that are going through this or a similar fight for freedom with these or other giant companies will understand.
World’s collide! Some of my favourite hip-hop artists and arguably the most respectable out there, tackling ultra-modern issues we all have to know more and think more about.
GMO’s or not, the control that large agricultural corporates have over the industry is also damaging in that they have drastically reduced the variety of crop strains being farmed, which puts major food supplies at more risk of disease and pests.
Shout out to street artist Free Humanity from L.A. who comes up with great anti-Monsanto art works and installs them publicly to get people thinking about what happens next.
In case it helps, I’d like to add a little clarity to the gmo debate.
It’s not really farmers creating the problem. It’s 7 chemical companies whose pesticides are showing up in newborn babies on Kauai. Mom’s who live near the fields are experiencing birth defects while neighbors are dropping like flies from cancers the local Doctors can’t identify.
Modifying genes may or may not be bad depending on whether or not you’ve given permission to have your genes altered. But pesticides in the air (drift volatilization) and water supplies (streams bordering farms, underground aquifers etc.) are a real problem.
But ultimately, these problems could be solved by voters. The strategy of the chemical companies has been unique. They are buying state and federal politicians in an effort to preempt counties from creating local safety laws.
Kauai was the 14th county in the US to create a law (Ordinance 960) which would have required a buffer zone between schools, hospitals and homes and fields where the pesticides are being sprayed. However, a federal magistrate over-ruled ordinance 960 (previously bill 2491) claiming state and federal regulations preempted local law.
Nothing really new except that Hawaii Law requires precaution and clearly states the opposite of what the fed ruled. The point is this:
It is easier to buy 1-200 state politicians and another 500 federal politicians than it is to buy county council members and county administration votes in 4,000 US counties. Buy the state and fed regulators and you own the country. We have a clip from the local syngenta manager claiming that this is the reason they are suing Kauai County and now Hawaii County and soon Maui County for creating local safety laws.
All of the Federal officials from the EPA and every other Federal government department have already been bought. Most of the folks in charge used to work for Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont-Pioneer, BASF or others. There are infographics which better describe the collusion.
I listened to nearly every single testifier on Kauai during the 6 months leading up to our win for ordinance 960 that was overturned and I can promise you that these companies have evil intentions. For what it’s worth, every single county council meeting on kauai was jam packed with folks wanting to reduce pesticide use. Every gmo seed in the world originates from Kauai and the amount of pesticides is unbelievable at first.
It’s not about the food you eat, the labeling of said foods or the fact that nearly all of these companies worked for Hitler at one time (from Zyklon-B to Agent Orange). The problem is that we can no longer create local laws (aka Home Rule) without being over-ruled by big chemical company paid supporters.
The battle isn’t over. It also cannot be won until more voters understand how local, state and federal politics should work in a democracy and why it’s absolutely critical to maintain a strong home rule in our local communities where the politicians have to walk the same streets and live in the same neighborhoods as the voters.
Sorry for the long post. Maybe folks that are going through this or a similar fight for freedom with these or other giant companies will understand.
Hawaiians aren’t down with Monsanto either.
Brent, I linked some other articles about GMOs before:
https://ma.tt/2014/03/whole-foods-and-psuedoscience/
World’s collide! Some of my favourite hip-hop artists and arguably the most respectable out there, tackling ultra-modern issues we all have to know more and think more about.
GMO’s or not, the control that large agricultural corporates have over the industry is also damaging in that they have drastically reduced the variety of crop strains being farmed, which puts major food supplies at more risk of disease and pests.
Shout out to street artist Free Humanity from L.A. who comes up with great anti-Monsanto art works and installs them publicly to get people thinking about what happens next.