People power passed pesticide law — let’s have more of it

In the aftermath of Hawaii’s historic pesticide regulation bill that Gov. David Ige signed into law as Act 45, corporate ag has geared up to fight back structurally, and through the media.

Lobbyists for the seed companies are running for elective offices, trying to unseat representatives like Matt LoPresti and Dee Morikawa who were attentive to community concerns. Also it does not help that the dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at the University of Hawaii was on HPR’s “The Conversation” recently casting doubt, ever so gently, on whether chlorpyrifos is really that harmful to humans. (Short answer: YES — scientists at Columbia and Berkeley have demonstrated as much, and the New England Journal of Medicine has seen fit to publish those findings.)

Yes, we have harmful chemicals in our home, as Nicholas Comerford, CTAHR dean, pointed out. And we should be making choices to limit our exposure to those chemicals.

But here is the difference: Members of communities who live downwind from agrochemical fields where there is year-round open spraying of restricted use pesticides like chlorpyrifos do not have a choice. They do not know what is sprayed, when it is sprayed or in what quantities. So, when they are taken ill, as many have been after such chronic exposure, they are powerless to connect the dots and examine what the impacts are, or how to protect themselves.

The key word here is “choice.” These communities have not consented to this exposure. And the agrochemical companies have consistently resisted providing the information the community needs to protect themselves. Children and pregnant women have been placed at risk.

So, let’s not get distracted from the grave dangers of tons of chlorpyrifos in the fields next to schools and homes by talking about how chlorine gas might be generated at home through the inadvertent mixing of household cleaners.

The science on chlorpyrifos is solid. The federal government would not have been poised to ban it if it were not so. It is also worth noting that the same chemical companies that produce and sell agricultural pesticides also sell some of the other chemicals referred to in the interview Comerford gave: chemicals like fire retardant, for example.

These companies are in the business of selling chemicals that impact public health and the environment. Their motivation is profit. Voters should ask themselves: Why was it so difficult to make Act 45 happen? Why did it take years of advocacy, thousands of community members, medical and scientific experts sending in their testimony year after year? The answer: the agrochemical companies fought tooth and nail to protect their bottom line and obfuscate the facts. And Monsanto is still doing it through ads masquerading as an “educational series” on “modern agriculture” on local TV.

More than ever, voters need to pay attention and not let the disinformation that is all around us get in the way of protecting public land and the people. We can fight back. We do not have to accept being the victims of corporate indifference and profit maximization at the expense of public health. Act 45 is proof that people power works.