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JAMM AQUINO/JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Kuike Kamakea-Ohelo speaks during a community meeting on Monday, June 24, 2019 at Leilehua High School in Wahiawa. Board of Education chair Catherine Payne and superintendent Christina Kishimoto presided over a community meeting to hear concerns about the use of herbicides and pesticides on DOE school campuses. Many community members are concerned about the herbicide Roundup but DOE insists that the product is not used on Hawaii public school campuses. Its fact sheet says that herbicide use is not permitted on campuses and no products containing glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, are approved for use at schools.
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Studies have found a strong correlation between the use of glyphosate and the development of ADHD and other developmental disorders in children whose pregnant mothers were exposed. In Argentina, congenital birth defects and cancer rates two to four times higher than the national average were found where Roundup was used. A 2008 International Journal of Cancer study noted that Roundup is the leading herbicide associated with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
The Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment that glyphosate “is not a carcinogen” should be viewed with skepticism. Under the Trump administration, the leadership at the EPA comes from the very industries over which the EPA is empowered to regulate. In addition, the EPA rolled back its proposed ban on the use of chlorpyrifos in 2017, after the manufacturer, Dow Chemical Company, donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
The European Union in 2017 banned the use of glyphosate in EU countries beginning in 2022.
I am grateful that schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto has the fortitude to support the health and well being of our keiki, as well as their education (“Herbicides banned on Hawaii public school campuses, superintendent says,” Star-Advertiser, June 26).
Myra Taketa
Mililani
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