It’s not about eating the corn.

Not for me anyway.

The decision to eat or not eat the corn is only a small reason I support the labeling of genetically modified foods and hold deep reservations about the industry as a whole.

People on my island of Kauai are getting sick. Many believe their sickness is caused by the secondary and cumulative effects connected to the growing of genetically modified organisms and the related pesticide use.

Yet when I’ve asked these companies directly and officially in writing to disclose what chemicals and in what quantities they are spraying, they have refused to do so. For me, that alone is enough to keep me from buying their products or supporting their industry, and to support full labeling requirements.

Sixty-three countries around the world including all of Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand require mandatory labeling of GMO foods. Some have banned them completely.

Many questions and doubts persist about GMOs and the pesticide spraying that accompanies them. There are valid health concerns ranging from allergen sensitivities to hormonal disruption to cancer.

There are concerns about corporate ownership of the world’s food supply. There are questions pertaining to the patenting of living organisms both plant and animal, and to the increased diminishment of bio-diversity.

For me, it’s personal. Kauai is ground zero in the GMO industry. These industrial agrochemical operations dominate the landscape of Kauai’s west side and are now moving into the southern and eastern land as well.

More than 200 Waimea Valley residents have filed suit claiming negative impacts from pesticide-laden dust blowing into their homes. Biologists estimate more than 50,000 sea urchins died last year in nearshore west-side waters.

Residents are increasingly concerned about the toxic pesticides being sprayed onto fields adjacent to streams and nearshore waters. They worry about the pesticides clinging to dust that blows daily into neighborhoods and schools. But the companies refuse to disclose what they are spraying, telling me blithely to go elsewhere for the data.

About half the land used for GMO production on Kauai is public lands upon which zero property tax is paid. The companies transfer their end products to related subsidiaries, benefit from Enterprise Zone and other general excise tax (GET) exemptions and consequently pay zero GET on the products they produce.

State law and terms of the public lands lease/license require these corporations to comply with Hawaii’s environmental review law, Chapter 343, yet no documentation demonstrating compliance exists.

Growing genetically modified organisms, using experimental pesticides and spraying a wide array of restricted and non-restricted pesticides on a mass scale have impacts on our islands, our health and our environment. There are direct impacts, secondary impacts and cumulative impacts but we don’t know what those impacts are because they have never been properly evaluated — and the companies in question won’t even give us the information needed to make a proper evaluation.

So, yes, I support labeling. Absolutely.

Labeling, mandatory disclosure and a permitting process requiring an independent comprehensive review of significant environ- mental and health impacts — I support them all, because, as you can see, it’s not just about eating the corn.