Councilors want more data on GMO taro ban

WAILUKU - A Maui County Council panel put off a decision Monday on a bill to prohibit genetically engineered taro.

Council Member Jo Anne Johnson, the chairwoman of the Economic Development, Agriculture and Recreation Committee, followed the lead of her colleagues who wanted more information before moving the measure to the full County Council for consideration and deferred the legislative proposal.

Council Member Mike Molina asked Johnson and her committee staff to seek written input from the Maui County Office of Prosecuting Attorney on enforcement and the experiences of government officials from the Big Island, where a similar ban has been put in place.

Council Member Bill Medeiros, who is not a member of the committee, amended his bill to make it unlawful for any person to test, propagate, cultivate, raise, plant, grow, introduce, transport or release genetically engineered or recombinant DNA kalo, or taro.

Medeiros explained Monday that he added the word "transport" to the measure because of evidence showing that contamination or genetic modification of taro can occur during the transport of the plant.

"It's referred to as biological pollution," Medeiros said.

Monday's hearing in the Council Chambers was a continuation of a committee meeting first convened last Thursday. About 50 people, many of them taro farmers, attended and testified about the importance of taro in the Native Hawaiian culture and their support of protecting and preserving it in a natural and traditional setting.

"We would not be taking care of our kuleana, our responsibility, to protect the taro, the kalo," Medeiros said, if what he called a preventive measure was not approved.

Medeiros proposed on Monday that council members discuss the enforcement of the new bill later and work with Maui County officials to resolve such details.

Department of Environmental Management Director Cheryl Okuma said her office doesn't have the expertise, training or facilities to enforce the law. "We can't do it," Okuma said.

Responding to committee members' questions, Okuma said she could not even suggest who might be most appropriate to assume such responsibility. Council Members Sol Kaho'ohalahala and Wayne Nishiki, who were not committee members but attended Monday's hearing, separately suggested to Okuma that her office develop such expertise.

"We would hope you would take a proactive position," Kaho'ohalahala said.

Mayor Charmaine Tavares has not taken a position on Medeiros' proposal, nor has she taken a firm position about the genetic modification of taro, according to county spokeswoman Mahina Martin. "She's listening carefully on how it plays out," Martin said.

Medeiros also added into his measure Monday a provision that would give the director of environmental management the authority to adopt administrative rules to implement the proposed law.

"I think we need to be brave. This is not something popular to do. This is something right to do," Medeiros said.

Okuma said she couldn't even comment on the costs of enforcement or the number of staff needed to oversee the ban or investigate any violations of the ban.

"This is way outside our expertise," she said, adding that the County Charter specifically assigned her office with jurisdiction over wastewater and solid waste.

Maui District Health Officer Dr. Lorrin Pang attended the meeting as a private citizen. The committee called on him for expert advice, and he said he had done similar genetic modification testing in an experiment with disabled high school students and was able to ascertain results within an hour of obtaining samples and at a relatively low price of $6 a test. There are other tests that could run as high as $200 to $300 per sample.

* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.