Poisoning Our Island Paradise
/Content provided by the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, the Hawaiʻi Center for Food Safety and the Protect Our Keiki Coalition.
It’s a big week for pesticide-related bills at the state legislature. On Thursday, February 8th at 10:30am, the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection with the House Committee on Agriculture will be hearing important bills to regulate pesticides statewide.
Please take 2 minutes to provide testimony in support of these important bills below!
The deadline for testimony is Wednesday, February 7th at 10:30am. (if you don't get it in by then, it will be late, but still helpful)!
Please submit separate testimonies for each Bill. It will only take a few seconds each!
SUPPORT CRITICAL PESTICIDE REGULATION BILLS
1. Support HB 2721: Statewide Pesticide Disclosure & Public Notification
Why is this important?
Hawai‘i’s communities have no choice but to live, work, and commute daily in areas under threat of toxic pesticide drift – and they do not have access to information that would allow them to protect themselves from this vital threat. Children in-utero and early childhood who are exposed to low-level restricted use pesticides are at risk of neurodevelopmental disabilities like autism and ADHD, as well as leukemia and asthma. With agrochemical companies spraying 2 out of every 3 days, mandatory public disclosure will ensure that industrial agriculture is held responsible for the potential impacts of its pesticides on human health and the environment.
What does the bill do?
HB 2721 will establish public notification requirements when pesticides are sprayed in proximity of schools, healthcare facilities, childcare facilities, elder care facilities, and other environmentally sensitive areas. Read more about HB2721.
CLICK HERE: Add your name and submit testimony in support of HB2721
SUPPORT BILLS BANNING DANGEROUS PESTICIDES
2. Support HB 1756: Ban the highly toxic insecticide chlorpyrifos
Why is this important?
Chlorpyrifos is a threat to communities, farmworkers, and particularly young and developing children. Chlorpyrifos is a highly toxic brain-harming insecticide being used in high volumes in Hawai`i on GMO research fields. (Learn more)
In 2016, 10 Syngenta field workers were hospitalized after exposure to chlorpyrifos. The EPA is currently suing Syngenta for worker safety violations related to the field worker’s exposure to chlorpyrifos, and was considering banning use of Chlorpyrifos on food crops prior to the Trump administration.
At least 27 schools in Hawai`i are located within one mile of these research fields and their pesticide drift. Chlorpyrifos and other brain-harming pesticides were found in air samples of Waimea Canyon Middle School, in the hair samples of local children and in water samples of the Kekaha ditch (both near GMO test field sites on Kaua`i).
What will this bill do?
HB 1756 will place a statewide ban on the use of chlorpyrifos, a highly toxic insecticide. Read more about HB1756.
CLICK HERE: Add your name and submit testimony in support of HB1756
3. Support HB 2722: Ban on pollinator-harming "neonics" and glyphosate on public land owned or maintained by the State.
Why is this important?
Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides, which scientists have linked to the rapid decline of honeybees and other pollinators. Pollinators are critical to nearly 70% of crops in Hawaiʻi.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, and the worldʻs leading authority on cancer, unanimously concluded that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen.
There's also a growing body of evidence on health impacts associated with exposure to glyphosate or RoundUp, such as endocrine disruption, organ damage and birth defects.
Glyphosate has also resulted in the rapid development of herbicide-tolerant superweeds, which tells us that herbicides as a solution don't work in the long term, and may even end up negatively impacting agricultural productivity.
What will this bill do?
If passed, HB2722 will place a statewide ban on the use of on pollinator harming neonicotinoids, and glyphosate on public land owned or maintained by the State. The bill will also enable Counties to pass similar measures. Read more about HB 2722.
CLICK HERE: Add your name and submit testimony in support of HB 2722 now
Thank you for taking action.
Together, we can protect our communities and Hawai‘i's precious land and waters.