January 15, 2014
Dupont, Syngenta and Dow Chemical to block US GMO law
Agrochemical companies DuPont Co, Syngenta AG and Dow Chemical Co seek to overturn a new law in Hawaii, US, which will restrict the planting of genetically modified crops and spraying of pesticides there, in the nation's latest dispute over GMO seeds.
The law is set to take effect in August 2014 on the island of Kauai. GMO crop growing and pesticide spraying near schools and nursing homes would then be controlled along with a requirement for the disclosure of chemical use and GMO crop cultivation.
Filed in US District Court in Honolulu, the suit marks a new turn in a long-running controversy over farming technology in the Aloha State, where year-round growing conditions for decades have attracted seed and chemical companies to develop new products.
DuPont, Syngenta and Dow spend billions of dollars a year developing seeds tailored to different types of soil and to resist pests, as well as to withstand chemicals and help farmers control destructive weeds and insects. In the lawsuit, lawyers for the companies said Kauai's temperate climate provides them with an "invaluable opportunity to triple or quadruple the pace of development of GM crops by producing seed year-round."
The companies seek to have Kauai's law declared invalid under the US and Hawaii constitutions. The lawsuit also aims to recoup the companies' legal fees.
Hawaiian activists have pushed legislation to curb crops which have been genetically altered to provide resistance against chemicals and pests, and tests of those chemicals themselves. Critics raise fears that biotech plants could spread to organic farms via wind or insects, and believe that heavy pesticide spraying has sickened local schoolchildren.
The dispute in Hawaii is being watched closely as US food and agricultural companies face an intensifying challenge from advocacy groups over products containing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. The groups have promoted ballot initiatives and legislation in some states to require the labelling of GMO foods, so far unsuccessfully. Most large food and seed companies have fought the efforts, arguing there is no evidence of any health problems resulting from GMO foods despite about two decades of use.
Kauai's Bill 2491 passed in November 2013 after county council members overrode a veto by the island's mayor. In December, the island of Hawaii passed a law which bars cultivation of new GMO crops on the Big Island.
The Kauai law is "invalid," according to a joint statement from the DuPont, Syngenta and Dow units. "It arbitrarily targets our industry with burdensome and baseless restrictions on farming operations by attempting to regulate activities over which counties in Hawaii have no jurisdiction," officials for the companies added in the statement. "These activities are already regulated by governmental agencies under state and federal laws."
According to their lawsuit, the companies altogether lease 11,500 acres for test farms and research facilities on Kauai, which is the fourth-largest island in the Hawaiian chain.
Gary Hooser, a Kauai council member, who co-introduced the bill, said that the companies will not share information about pesticide use. "We do not know and cannot properly research and evaluate these impacts because the companies will not tell us what chemicals they are using. Instead, they choose to ignore the decision of our local community and take us to court."
