Crop Improvement Methods Ridiculed?

Hawaii’s One-sided Love Affair with GMOs

Sunday, June 19, 2011

By Molokai Dispatch staff

Community Contributed

Clearly the GMO corn seed companies have cultivated a love affair with Hawaii’s legislators and governing agencies with a crop of alluring promises of tax and employment benefits. Instead, this love affair has birthed unrestricted and unregulated access to our scarce agriculture resources of water and land for Monsanto, Pioneer,  Syngenta, Dow and BASF, with no oversight, no inspections and no protections against unintended – but sure to happen - consequences.

The GMO seed companies are the ultimate self-licking ice cream cone; with no consumer demand for the non- food product, the companies created an artificial demand called “crop improvement”, then manipulated genes to create new patented life-forms, then controlled all research, production, sales, distribution and ultimately replanting.

Better to advocate FOR environmental responsibility: GMO science promises that there is absolutely NO environmental risk from their new genetic life-forms; that it will never happen. These promises have nothing to do with prudent and practical safeguards that answer the “what if” question and that legislate environmental clean up of any contamination from GMO research companies. Why does our environment need protection?? Read More

The Plight of the Honeybee

Hawaiian Honeybees Threatened by Bloodsucking Parasite
Monday , August 25, 2008
HILO, Hawaii —

A state rapid response team is in Hilo to try to contain a bee mite parasite.

The parasite is posing a threat to the island's $4 million commercial honeybee industry and the island's agriculture, officials said.

The parasite is a reddish-brown, crab-looking varroa mite.

The mites are found worldwide and feed on the blood of honeybees, weakening the adults and deforming the young until the hive collapses.

The team plans to destroy all wild beehives within five miles of Hilo Bay.

Agriculture Department staff will hand out sticky traps with miticides to help beekeepers kill the mites.

Four parasites were found last week in Hilo, which was the first detection outside of Oahu. Read More

The role of honeybees in agriculture is incredibly important. They are responsible for much of the pollination that occurs. Over the last several years, our honeybee population has taken a hit due to disease. Now a parasite that has invaded Hawaii is causing more damage. The protection of our honeybees is vital to the success of several other areas of agriculture.