Today more than 2,000 residents will gather for the largest public hearing in Kauai’s history.

The issue at hand is whether residents of our community have the right to know what dangerous chemicals are being used, what experiments are being conducted with pesticides and genetic modification, and what impacts these actions might have on our island and its people.

It is really that basic: Kauai residents simply want the right to know.

But the agrochemical companies that annually use more than 18 undiluted tons of 22 different restricted use pesticides (RUPs) and an unknown amount (estimated at 80 tons) of general-use pesticides like glyphosate (Roundup) do not believe that Kauai residents deserve that right.

These substances have warning labels sometimes exceeding 100 pages. Many are banned in Europe and elsewhere in the world. More than half of these RUPs contain active ingredients that are known or probable carcinogens, reproductive or developmental toxicants, known groundwater contaminants or acutely toxic poisons.

These chemicals are often sprayed on fields located near schools, hospitals, houses, streams and sensitive coastal environments.

No real farmers on Kauai use these toxic chemicals at any level even close to what is being used by these agrochemical operations. Department of Agriculture statistics reveal that real farmers on Kauai growing real food that people can actually eat use less than 1 percent of this amount.

There have been no studies and no research or evaluation of what impacts this activity has had on our community’s health and natural environment.

There is no law in place at the present time that requires these companies to disclose the large amounts of toxic chemicals they use daily in our community.

Nor is there any law in place today that prevents these same chemicals from being used in areas adjacent to schools, hospitals and other sensitive areas.

Bill 2491 does not ban GMOs (genetically modified organisms). To the contrary, this measure is designed specifically to maximize public disclosure and protections while minimizing the impacts on existing operations.

If passed into law, Bill 2491 would:

» Require disclosure of pesticide and GMO use by large commercial agricultural entities and require a 500-foot buffer zone around schools, hospitals, streams and other sensitive areas. This would not affect small farmers at all. The agrochemical companies grossly exaggerate the buffer zone impacts by including irrigation ditches as streams.

» Prohibit open-air testing of experimental pesticides and experimental GMOs. This would not ban the testing but merely require an enclosed environment.

» Establish a temporary moratorium on new GMO operations pending the results of an environmental impact statement (EIS) and development of a permitting system. This would not impact existing operations, but only expansion during the limited moratorium period.

» Require the county of Kauai to prepare an EIS on the impact of the GMO industry and its related pesticide practices within Kauai County.

» Require a permitting system for GMO operations, establish penalties and allow costs to be paid for via permitting fees and property taxes directly connected to the operations.

Growing and experimenting with genetically modified organisms, using experimental pesticides and spraying a wide array of restricted and general use pesticides on a mass scale have impacts on our island, our health and our environment. We don’t know what those impacts are because they have never been properly evaluated and the companies in question will not give us the information needed to make a proper evaluation.

I am committed to working with my colleagues on the Kauai County Council whom I know share my concerns, to pass into law an ordinance that will, in fact, further protect the health and safety of Kauai residents.