Doctors are sounding the alarm after noticing a
disturbing trend happening in Waimea, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
Over the past five years, the number of severe heart malformations has
risen to more than ten times the national rate, according to an analysis by local physicians.
Pediatrician Carla Nelson, after seeing four of
these defects in three years, is extremely concerned with the severe
health anomalies manifesting in the local population.
Nelson, as well as a number of other local doctors,
find themselves at the center of a growing controversy about whether the
substantial increase in severe illness and birth defects in Waimea stem
from the main cash crop on four of the six islands, genetically
modified corn, which has been altered to resist pesticides.
Hawaii has historically been used as a testing
ground for almost all GMO corn grown in the United States. Over 90% of
GMO corn grown in the mainland U.S. was first developed in Hawaii, with
the island of Kauai having the largest area used.
According to a report in The Guardian:
In Kauai, chemical companies Dow, BASF, Syngenta and DuPont spray 17 times more pesticide per acre (mostly herbicides, along with insecticides and fungicides) than on ordinary cornfields in the US mainland, according to the most detailed study of the sector, by the Center for Food Safety.That’s because they are precisely testing the strain’s resistance to herbicides that kill other plants. About a fourth of the total are called Restricted Use Pesticides because of their harmfulness. Just in Kauai, 18 tons – mostly atrazine, paraquat (both banned in Europe) and chlorpyrifos – were applied in 2012. The World Health Organization this year announced that glyphosate, sold as Roundup, the most common of the non-restricted herbicides, is “probably carcinogenic in humans”.
Waimea is a small town that lies directly downhill
from the 12,000 acres of GMO test fields leased mainly from the state.
Spraying takes place often, sometimes every couple of days. Residents
have complained that when the wind blows downhill from the fields, the chemicals have caused headaches, vomiting, and stinging eyes.
“Your eyes and lungs hurt, you feel dizzy and
nauseous. It’s awful,” local middle school special education teacher
Howard Hurst told the Guardian.
“Here, 10% of the students get special-ed services, but the state
average is 6.3%,” he says. “It’s hard to think the pesticides don’t play
a role.”
To add insult to injury, Dow AgraSciences’ main
lobbyist in Honolulu, until recently, actually ran the main hospital in
town. Although only 1,700ft away from a Syngenta field, the hospital has
never done any research into the effects of pesticides on its patients.
Hawaiians have attempted to rein in the industrial chemical/farming machine on four separate
occasions over the past two years. On August 9 an estimated 10,000
people marched through Honolulu’s main tourist district to protest the
collusion of big business and state putting profits over citizens’
health.
“The turnout and the number of groups marching
showed how many people are very frustrated with the situation,” native
Hawaiian activist Walter Ritte said.
Hawaiians have also attempted to use a ballot initiative to force a moratorium on the planting of GMO crops, according to The Guardian:
In Maui County, which includes the islands of Maui and Molokai, both with large GMO corn fields, a group of residents calling themselves the Shaka Movement sidestepped the company-friendly council and launched a ballot initiative that called for a moratorium on all GMO farming until a full environmental impact statement is completed there.The companies, primarily Monsanto, spent $7.2m on the campaign ($327.95 per “no” vote, reported to be the most expensive political campaign in Hawaii history) and still lost.Again, they sued in federal court, and, a judge found that the Maui County initiative was preempted by federal law. Those rulings are also being appealed.
Even amidst strong public pressure, the chemical companies that grow the GMO corn have continued to refuse to disclose the chemicals
they are using, as well as the specific amounts of each chemical being
used. The industry and its political cronies have continually insisted
that pesticides are safe.
“We have not seen any credible source of statistical
health information to support the claims,” said Bennette Misalucha,
executive director of Hawaii Crop Improvement Association in a written
statement distributed by a publicist.
Nelson pointed out that American Academy of Pediatrics’ report, “Pesticide Exposure in Children”,
found “an association between pesticides and adverse birth outcomes,
including physical birth defects,” going on to note that local schools
have twice been evacuated and kids sent to the hospital due to pesticide
drift. “It’s hard to treat a child when you don’t know which chemical
he’s been exposed to.”
Sidney Johnson, a pediatric surgeon
at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children who oversees all
children born in Hawaii with major birth defects says he’s noticed that
the number of babies born here with their abdominal
organs outside has increased. This is a rare condition known as
gastroschisis and has grown from three per year in the 1980s to about a
dozen now, according to The Guardian.
Johnson and a team of medical students
have been studying hospital records to determine if any of the parents
of the infants with gastroschisis were residing near fields that were
undergoing spraying during conception and early pregnancy.
“We have cleanest water and air in the world,”
Johnson said. “You kind of wonder why this wasn’t done before,” he says.
“Data from other states show there might be a link, and Hawaii might be
the best place to prove it.”
It was recently revealed that these chemical
companies, unlike farmers, are allowed to operate under an antiquated
decades-old Environmental Protection Agency permit. This permit was
grandfathered in from the days of sugar plantations when the amounts and
toxicities were significantly lower, and which allowed for toxic
chemicals to be discharged into water. Tellingly, the state of Hawaii
has asked for a federal exemption to allow these companies to continue
to not comply with modern standards.
The ominous reality of collusion between these
mega-corporations and the political class in Hawaii has seemingly left
the citizens of the state with virtually no ability to safeguard their
children’s health. We tread dangerously close to corporate fascism when
profits are put above the health of the people.
Jay Syrmopoulos
is an investigative journalist, free thinker, researcher, and ardent
opponent of authoritarianism. He is currently a graduate student at
University of Denver pursuing a masters in Global Affairs. Jay’s work
has been published on BenSwann’s Truth in Media, Truth-Out, AlterNet,
InfoWars, MintPress News and many other sites. You can follow him on
Twitter @sirmetropolis, on Facebook at Sir Metropolis and now on tsu.
Thanks to Natural Blaze for this article
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