MONSANTO Dead in the Water on the Shores of Maui

Maui County says YES to getting GMOs and associated pesticides off our islands of Maui and Molokai!

1. Rights Conferred By This Ordinance

   We, the people of Maui County hereby proclaim that the our residents, visitors, Public Trust Resources, and the Environment must be protected from the potentially hazardous health effects, contamination, loss of diversity, environmental and other potentially harmful impacts from the GE Operations and Practices that have not met the standards set forth in this Ordinance. Therefore, we are hereby exercising our right to utilize the County initiative process to impose a moratorium on the propagation, cultivation, raising, or growing of GE Organisms in Maui County in order to protect, our residents, visitors, and the environment, and to call for a detailed environmental impact study of the harms associated with GE Operations and Practices.

SECTION 4: Purpose

The purposes of this Article are:

1. to protect Maui County’s Environment and Public Trust Resources from transgenic contamination by GE Operations and Practices;
2. to defend and promote the economic integrity of organic and non GE markets that are harmed by transgenic contamination by GE Operations and Practices ;
3. to protect Maui County from hazardous aspects of GE Operations and Practices , including but not limited to increased Pesticide use;
4. to preserve the right of Maui County residents to reject GE Operations and Practices based on health-related, moral, or other concerns; and
5. to preserve Maui County’s Environment and Public Trust Resources (with its unique and vulnerable ecosystems), while promoting the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples of Maui and indigenous agricultural Operations and Practices.

This Article shall be liberally construed to fulfill those purposes.

Section 5: Temporary Moratorium.

1. It is unlawful for any person or entity to knowingly propagate, cultivate, raise, grow or test Genetically Engineered Organisms within the County of Maui until such time that the terms of the (Section 6, below) have been met.
2. Subsection (1) of this section does NOT apply to:
   1. the propagation, cultivation, raising, growing or testing of GE Organisms that are in mid-growth cycle when this chapter is enacted;
   2. GE Organisms that have been incorporated into any food or medicine in any manner already prepared for sale for human or animal consumption;
   3. any licensed health practitioner who provides diagnosis, care, or treatment to any human patient using products containing GE Organisms; and
   4. any fully accredited college or university that engages in non-commercial scientific research, medical research, or education using GE Organisms, provided that such activities are conducted under enclosed indoor laboratory conditions, with the utmost precautionary measures to prevent accidental release of GE Organisms into the outside environment. “Moratorium Amendment or Repeal” http://voteyesmaui.org/the-law

It's been a huge fight here on Maui and on Molokai to rid Monsanto from our shores...
In 2009 no one even had heard of Monsanto or GMOs...most thought that pesticides were NOT harmful either...
We changed that...
The yes means no, and no means yes strategy didn't work for the pirates this time...
By 800 votes, and the main Honolulu paper was reporting at the end of the night there needed to be 50% plus 1 vote...I went to bed wondering myself....

The 5 SHAKA members who put the moratorium forward are the heroes.

Helped a small way by creating a blog back in 2009 to fight my pesticide poisoning, and to prove that is what disabled me...I knew it was true, but no docs would even investigate...

I proved it...

Why would anyone think it's OK to poison Paradise is beyond belief!

GMO Moratorium Victory on Maui from Vote Yes Maui on Vimeo.

Monsanto now heads to Mexico...

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morning_call/2014/09/monsanto-launches-gmo-center-in-mexico.html
Monsanto has launched a new global center in Mexico focused on developing hybrid strains of corn.

Monsanto plans to invest $90 million over the next five years to centralize its development of corn seed research at the new center, which is based in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Reuters reports.

"The aim is to create new varieties tolerant to diseases and the stresses that affect maize cultivation all over the world due to growing negative conditions caused by global climate change," Monsanto said in a statement.

The center is part of Monsanto's effort to boost its output of corn, which is the planet's most widely produced grain, according to Reuters.