The 2017 session of the Hawaii state legislature saw at least 17 bills introduced that deal with pesticide regulation, with many going far beyond what is federally mandated by the EPA. A majority of the proposed legislation claims that these restrictive measures are necessary because of perceived harm to the public or the environment, though the supporting evidence is absent or negligible at best.
The main target of these measures is the group of large biotech seed companies which conduct year-round hybridization and seed increase in their corn breeding programs on Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu. Commercial corn breeding programs have been in Hawaii for at least 50 years, though their presence here only became a source of controversy among those opposed to modern agriculture after the introduction of genetically engineered crops in 1996.
Study after study has concluded that genetically engineered crops are just as safe as crops developed from other methods of plant breeding. This made it increasingly difficult to justify efforts to restrict GE crops, along with the widespread acceptance in Hawaii of GE papayas bred to resist the virus that devastates non-GE papayas in the main production areas.
Soon though, the steadfast opponents of agricultural biotechnology found they could more easily scare the general public, and some sympathetic lawmakers, by focusing on pesticides, in particular the restricted use pesticides (RUPs) applied by the seed companies.
As with the issue of safety of GE crops, evidence is also lacking that RUPs used by the seed companies are a significant problem in Hawaii. Publicly available data for 2014 (here and here) indicate that 97% of the total amount of RUPs used by the seed companies in Kauai and Maui counties was less toxic than vitamin D3, and 93% was less toxic than Aspirin. (Beware the medicine cabinet.)
At the national level, this is in agreement with the USDA’s study of the characteristics of pesticides used on corn, soybean and cotton over a 40 year period, showing chronic toxicity, application rate and persistence in the environment all declining:
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Improved pesticides and GE seed contributed to the general decline in application rate.
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Average chronic toxicity declined dramatically due to banning more toxic insecticides in the 1970s and early 1980’s, then through use of less toxic insecticides, and the use of GE cotton since 1996.
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Persistence has declined with the emergence of GE crops reflecting the increased use of glyphosate which has relatively low persistence compared to the herbicides that it has replaced.
Well said Harold. Thank you. Farmers need all the tools available to them to grow a healthy crop.
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