Janey sent this to me this morning via her phone. Sorry it’s so tiny! It basically says that they won their battle, despite the mayor’s attempt to squash the bill. Why? Because their grassroots coalition to pass the bill was more powerful than the mayor, who, I suspect, owes his election to corporate money.
From their site www.stoppoisoningparadise.com:
PASS THE BILL is a broad coalition of Kaua’i moms, health care professionals, farmers, and civic leaders committed to passing Bill 2491, a law that addresses excessive pesticide use by GMO companies on our island.
This bill is about the heaviest agricultural users of restricted use pesticides. Twenty-two (22) different restricted use pesticides, comprising approximately 18 tons (pre-diluted), are used annually on Kaua‘i by four GMO companies on Kaua’i.* “This constitutes approximately 98% of the restricted use pesticides utilized by agricultural operations on Kaua‘i.” said Kaua’i County Council member Gary Hooser, a co-sponsor of the proposed law, “We care very much about supporting our local farmers. The thresholds of this bill do not affect them. We need to protect our children.”
Nurseries, landscapers, golf courses and tourism destinations are likewise not affectedby Bill 2491, as their levels of restricted use pesticides are miniscule in comparison to the levels of the heaviest users.
Kaua’i is ground zero for GMO test seed experimentation and GMO seed development by companies such as Syngenta, BASF, Pioneer (a DuPont subsidiary) and Dow AgroSciences. GMO seed test sites require dangerous levels of pesticide application – at a scale and intensity far greater than conventional agriculture.
Pesticides such as 2,4-D (a derivative of Agent Orange), Dicamba, Atrazine and chlorpyrifos are applied near our homes, schools, workplaces and places of worship.
Here’s video of the council meeting, emotions running extremely high.
