Temporary GMO Crop Moratorium Makes it to the November Ballot – An Historic First for Maui County
Over 19,000 Maui County citizens invoke a clause in the
Hawaii State Constitution to protect the land for future generations
”Over 300 community volunteers collected over 19,000 signatures in just three months” said Mark Sheehan, one of the ordinance¹s five citizen sponsors. “This overwhelmingly positive response reveals how very concerned our community is about the potential health risks from exposure to the world¹s largest concentration of open-field GMO and combined pesticide experiments.” Over 9000 of the collected signatures were verified by the County Clerk, enough to place the initiative on the November ballot. This is the first ever successful citizen’s ballot petition in Maui County.
“Nearly half as many as the number of people who voted in the last general elections signed the petition to place the Initiative on the ballot,” said Mark Sheehan, “The Initiative asks to suspend all GMO activity in Maui County until all GE agrochemical practices have been proven non-harmful to people and the environment.”
The Public Trust Doctrine in the Hawaii State Constitution, (Article 11, section 1-10) states that all Public Trust Resources must be preserved and protected for current and future generations.
“The Hawaii constitution makes it clear that we have a right to know what is harmful and a right to decide what happens to our land and our health. It is not only a right, but the state constitution makes it our responsibility.” said Bruce Douglas, a spokes person for the SHAKA Movement. ”The citizens supporting the movement are exercising their constitutional right to uphold the constitution. Anyone against such ‘rights’ is simply in an argument with the constitution, not the movement. The movement is simply upholding the constitution.”
“If in doubt, it is our responsibility to exercise the precautionary principle,” said Dr Lorrin Pang, speaking as a private citizen. “The GMO Moratorium asks for a Health Study to be conducted before releasing un-tested new life forms into the environment. I am also very concerned about the 80 plus chemicals that are being sprayed on GMO fields and that create chemical cocktails with literally billions of possible combinations, which no safety studies have been done for. This is a potential formula for disaster.”
“We have no control over what¹s going on,” said Dennis “Bumpy” Pu’uhonua Kanahele, Head of State of the Nation of Hawai¹I, in a recent TV interview, “In our culture and our tradition there¹s no room for anything that doesn¹t belong to nature. I want everyone to know that I support the Shaka Movement. When you go in there vote for the moratorium and support this effort.”
“It’s pretty simple,” said Joe Marshalla, a private citizen volunteering with the SHAKA Movement. “If you’re absolutely sure that everything is perfectly safe, then vote against it. But, if you have any doubt whatsoever that what’s happening could be harmful to the land and the people, then vote to make sure that all possible testing is done right here in our County until everyone is satisfied that we are safe.”