GMOs are tearing a tropical paradise apart (anti-GMO fight on the Hawaiian island of Kauai) [View all]

[ChicagoRonin]

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/04/a_battle_in_paradise_how_gmos_are_tearing_a_tropical_utopia_apart/

WEDNESDAY, SEP 4, 2013 11:13 AM CDT
GMOs are tearing a tropical paradise apart

As a suspected cancer cluster invades Hawaii, residents are torn between GMO jobs and the health of the people
BY ADAM SKOLNICK

If you’ve read about GMOs before, you may have heard that 88 percent of corn and 94 percent of soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, that the FDA has approved genetically modified (GM) crops for consumption, and there has never been a universally accepted study that has found GM food to be unsafe. What’s more, here in Hawaii, proponents argue that GM seed saved the big island’s papaya growers, and has the potential to bolster Florida’s citrus industry.

Opponents, though, call it Frankenfood and mention that the long-term effect of eating it has never been studied. They emphasize dubious industry ties between the FDA and that notorious GMO bogeyman, Monsanto. But Monsanto doesn’t operate on Kauai. DuPont Pioneer, Dow, Syngenta and BASF do, and all of them are heavily invested in GM agriculture globally.

. . . According to state pesticide records, 18 tons of 22 Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs – pesticides that require special permits) are sprayed each year on Kauai. The American Cancer Society and American Academy of Pediatrics have linked 15 of those to cancer in recent studies. Factor in the general use variety, and 63 different pesticide compounds are sprayed in the island’s cornfields annually, and nobody knows exactly how that cocktail may impact the land and surrounding communities . . .