Hawaii needs to continue to support, not ban GM Crops
The state of Hawaii, whether it likes it or not, can be considered the world’s largest outdoor biotechnology lab. Scientists and researchers first planted the genetically modified Flavr Savr tomato on a small plot of land in the state in 1988. Since then, federal regulators have approved more than 10,000 applications to grow genetically modified crops on more than 49,000 separate fields all over the United States, according to different reports. More of these fields planted with biotech crops are located in Hawaii than in any other state in the U.S.
Through biotechnology, Hawaii has been able to produce soy plants that are immune to weed killers, low-nicotine tobacco, and disease-resistant cotton. About 95 percent of all of the biotech acres in Hawaii are planted in corn, according to the Hawaiian Alliance for Responsible Technology and Science (HARTS Hawaii), an agricultural trade alliance, outnumbering genetically modified corn crops grown in both Iowa and Illinois.
One of the most notable things that biotechnology has done in Hawaii was to rescue one of the state’s leading food industries from ruin. In 1992, Hawaii’s papaya industry faced an economic disaster when the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) was discovered in the Puna District of the island of Hawaii, where 95 percent of the state’s papaya was grown, according to the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center. By 1995, PRSV was widespread throughout Puna.
In 1998, scientist Dennis Gonsalves, a native Hawaiian then at Cornell University, spliced a harmless piece of the PRSV virus into papaya tress, creating a genetically modified papaya that is resistant to the virus. Today, these genetically modified papaya tress also help serve as buffers to help keep the PRSV virus from spreading to non-resistant and conventional papaya trees. Because of biotechnology, the $16 million a year papaya industry in Hawaii is thriving again.
Today, high-value agriculture such as biotechnology and hybrid crop development is a leading source of economic opportunity in the Hawaiian Islands. The academic and commercial plant breeding facilities in the state provide good jobs and income for many island residents, especially those individuals in rural areas. In addition, it has saved acres of land which might otherwise be bulldozed for property development, securing this land for more environmentally friendly purposes.
With all of the advantages and benefits that biotechnology has brought to Hawaii, it is a shame that lawmakers in Hawaii are now attempting to limit further progress with the advancement of two bills in the state senate that would place a five year ban on the field testing of genetically modified coffee and taro crops.
Anti-biotech activists, including individuals in Hawaii’s organic food industry, continue to foster fears in the state over possible contamination of their organic crops by the pollen of GM crops. In reality, their fear is unfounded. Biotechnology uses what is found in nature to create these genetically modified foods that people around the world, including those in Hawaii, have consumed for years. There have been countless studies over the years that have clearly demonstrated that genetically modified foods do not pose any threat to human health and, according to several reports, pollen flow is a non-issue when it comes to determining the organic status of a food because federally adopted organic food standards don’t prohibit the unintended presence of biotech traits in organic foods. The need to have these foods completely “natural” is something the organic food industry has adopted solely on its own.
Hawaiians also need to consider that the state’s current coffee and taro crops could be threatened by a threatening virus or disease over the next five years, just like their papaya crops faced a few years ago. By placing a ban on genetically modified strains of these crops, scientists and researchers will be limited in developing resistant crops. Although senators are considering letting these genetically modified crops grow in greenhouses in the state, field testing of these crops must be done to combat this potential devastating problem.
Hawaiians, including these state senators, need to continue to support, not restrict and ban the development of genetically modified coffee and taro crops. These decisions will impact the lives of individuals, its economy, and the worthwhile research that scientists have done in the state for years to come.
