Kauai community perseveres against agribusiness bullying

The Kafkaesque threat by Syngenta attorney Paul Alston to sue the people of Kauai County for the right to spray their toxic chemicals next to schools, hospitals and homes is disturbing at best. What kind of world do we live in where large chemical companies are allowed to bully and intimidate small communities attempting only to protect the health and environment of their neighborhoods?

Syngenta is the inventor of the chemical atrazine, which is banned throughout the European Union, including within Syngenta’s host country Switzerland, yet this company applies it by the ton, year after year on Kauai and around our state.

In 2006 and in 2008, dozens of children and teachers at Waimea Canyon Middle School were sickened and sent to local hospitals. Syngenta denied that the adjacent fields of experimental corn and the related pesticide spraying were the culprit but eventually, under intense community pressure, they stopped spraying those fields. Since then, there have been no incidents.

At the time, the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) filed a temporary restraining order against Syngenta to force them to stop spraying next to the school.

Long-time residents of Kauai’s west side know something is wrong. There have been massive sea urchin die-offs in nearby coastal areas. Atrazine and other chemicals are being found in streams leading from the fields into coastal waters.

Obstetricians, pediatricians and other local physicians have expressed concerns about what they believe to be unusually high levels of normally rare birth defects and certain types of cancers. Parents report their children have higher than normal incidents of nose bleeds and respiratory ailments.

In response to increasing community concerns, the Kauai County Council recently passed into law Bill 2491, which contains three basic provisions:

» Disclosure of pesticide and genetically modified organism (GMO) use.

» Modest buffer zones around schools, hospitals and homes.

» A county-sponsored comprehensive study of health and environmental impacts.

Bill 2491 does not ban pesticides, nor does it ban GMOs; it simply requires disclosure.

More than 50 doctors in our small community have signed testimony in support of Bill 2491. The Hawaii Nurses Association, Local 5 Hotel Worker and the HSTA have all testified in support, and 60-plus Kauai-based businesses have endorsed the bill.

In the largest display of community support for any issue ever on Kauai, more than 4,000 residents in a community of 65,000 marched and gathered at the county building recently.

Supporters slept overnight on the cement fronting the county building in order to garner a coveted seat inside the Council chambers, while the chemical companies hired the homeless and down-and-out to hold seats for their executives.

The chemical companies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on radio spots, newspaper advertisements and direct mailers. They hired community leaders, conducted unethical "push polls," and employed an army of bloggers and social-media experts that attack the integrity of their opponents at every step.

It goes without saying that these companies pour millions into political campaigns and have easy access to political decision-makers at all levels.

But in spite of the enormous resources that were utilized in opposition, Bill 2491 was passed into law via a 5-2 vote Saturday, overriding Mayor Bernard Carvalho’s veto.

The bill’s passage is a testament to grass-roots democracy and community perseverance. The chemical companies and their friends in government threw everything they had at stopping the bill.

But our community persevered — speaking truth to power with aloha, and won.

Now, the attorney for Syngenta is again threatening to sue the citizens of Kauai. Instead of acknowledging and respecting the people and the decision of the elected body of Kauai County, they continue to bully and threaten us with their lawyers and their money.

Clearly they underestimate the resolve and commitment of our community.