Panel reconsiders sections of pesticide/GMO legislation

A Kauai County Council committee spent much of Friday discussing proposed amendments to provisions of a bill that calls for new regulations on pesticides and the farming of genetically modified crops.

The Council’s Economic Development (Sustainability/Agriculture/Food/Energy) and Intergovernmental Relations Committee considered changing sections of Bill 2491 pertaining to a call for mandatory disclosures about pesticide use and for reporting the presence of genetically modified organisms. The committee also debated the bill’s proposal for a 500-foot buffer zone around schools, hospitals and other sensitive areas, such as public roads, streams and shorelines.

Co-introduced by Councilmen Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum, the proposed Kauai County ordinance applies only to large consumers of restricted-use pesticides — agricultural operations purchasing or using more than five pounds or 15 gallons of restricted-use pesticides, or any amount of experimental pesticides, annually.

Those directly affected are biotech companies Syngenta Hawaii, DuPont Pioneer, Dow AgroSciences and BASF as well as Kauai Coffee, the largest coffee grower in the state.

The bill’s supporters are concerned about the health and environmental impacts of pesticides, while opponents say the language in the proposed ordinance is arbitrary and targets biotech companies.

As the committee meeting got underway in the morning, about 65 attendees packed the Council chambers to capacity, and about 200 people — a majority of whom were bill opponents — listened to testimony via speakers set up outside the county building. The meeting continued into the night.

Councilwoman JoAnn Yuki­mura said she is uncomfortable with a "one size fits all" approach to buffer zones. She and Councilwoman Nadine Naka­mura suggested modifying the bill’s buffer zones to various sites that include 100 feet from parks as well as streams, rivers and shorelines.

Also, both suggested dropping the bill’s call for a ban on open-air testing of experimental pesticides as well as its moratorium on experimental-use pesticides pending results of an environmental impact statement. Most experimental- use pesticides, Yuki­mura said, are for an approved product used on crops they are not permitted for.

Mark Phillipson, a spokes­man for Syngenta Hawaii, has said the seed company does not conduct experimental product testing. On occasion the company uses an approved product for which it is not approved. If a pesticide, for example, is approved for corn and not for soybeans, a request for an experimental-use permit is submitted to the state Department of Agriculture.

Yukimura added, "We don’t believe the generalized moratorium on GMO companies is legally defensible."

Hooser said he opposed eliminating the proposed sections from the bill.

"I’m saying until we figure out why people are getting sick, it makes sense to take a break," he said. "I put a moratorium (in the bill) … because I believe that is the answer."

A report prepared by the Hawaii Tumor Registry for the Department of Health released Thursday showed no higher incidence of cancer cases on Kauai compared with the rest of the state. An evaluation was conducted at the request of Kauai legislators and community members due to health concerns from pesticides used by biotech companies.