100 testify on taro moratorium bill
Advertiser Staff
Nearly 100 people testified yesterday on a state bill that proposes a 10-year moratorium on developing or growing genetically engineered taro in Hawai'i, but a decision on whether to advance the measure wasn't immediately made.
A hearing before the House Committee on Agriculture lasted more than seven hours with oral testimony from a crowd that included taro farmers, University of Hawai'i researchers, genetic crop industry representatives and papaya farmers.
Supporters of Senate Bill 958 are largely Native Hawaiian taro farmers who say genetic engineering of taro, or kalo in Hawaiian, is unnecessary and an affront to Hawaiian culture, which holds the plant sacred. Many moratorium opponents also fear that genetically modified taro, if produced and tested outside, could mix with traditional varieties.
Bill opponents argue a ban would set back research to protect an important crop from natural pests that threaten further declines in Hawai'i taro production, and establish a precedent to ban other genetically modified crops. Biotech representatives also argue that contamination between traditional and genetically modified taro varieties is extremely unlikely because of present propagation practices that involve growing new plants from existing plants instead of pollination.
Testimony was mixed, presenting a difficult decision by committee members who were faced with passionate pleas from numerous Hawaiian taro farmers, some of whom brought the plant for dramatic display.
For SB 958 to be approved, it would have to be passed by the House Agriculture Committee, and then considered and passed by two other House committees: the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection and the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce. If the bill is amended, changes would have to be approved in the Senate.
SB 958 was introduced last year and cleared a Senate committee, but was denied a hearing in the House.
Two years ago, the Legislature considered, but did not pass, bills that would have limited genetic research and growing of non-Hawaiian varieties of taro.
