Both sides lose in genetic crop wars
| • | Fears grow with genetic crop secrecy |
| • | Editorial: The promise of biotech |
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
In the debate over genetically modified crop research, both corporations and environmentalists can point to the other group's misdeeds to support their position.
• In April, the Environmental Protection Agency fined Pioneer Hi-Bred, a division of DuPont, $72,000 for failing to report immediately a test that showed genetically modified corn pollen might have contaminated other plants at the company's Waimea Research Station on Kaua'i.
• Last year, Pioneer was slapped with another fine, for $9,900, after EPA agents discovered the company had broken environmental rules in planting its experimental corn. (Pioneer was cleared of potential violations in a 2002 incident in which corn genetically designed to resist a pest mixed with neighboring crops at a Kaua'i test site.)
• In a November incident on the Mainland, soybeans genetically modified to produce a drug accidentally were mixed with soybeans meant for human consumption. The contamination was discovered before the crops went to market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture fined biotech company ProdiGene, which conducts tests in Hawai'i, $250,000.
Meanwhile, there have been violent protests against biotech crop operations.
• In August, an environmental activist group claimed responsibility for a bomb that destroyed windows in the offices of biotech company Chiron Corp. in Emeryville, Calif.
• In May 2000, vandals who said they were anti-biotechnology activists trampled corn and chopped down 'awa, taro, pineapple and papaya plants at two sites on Kaua'i.
No one was arrested in either incident.
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
