It’s probably not too much of a stretch to say Monsanto is one of the most loathed companies in the world. They played a key role in the development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for food, and their ham-fisted attempts in the 1990s and 2000s to force GMOs on consumers backfired spectacularly.
That’s why it’s no real surprise that the Hawaiian island of Maui has voted to ban Monsanto’s evil presence entirely.
Well, not exactly. What the people of Maui did do was pass the first-ever ballot initiative in the U.S. taking aim at GMOs. That's no small feat considering opponents of the initiative, including corporate giants Monsanto and Dow Chemical, outspent the “yes” side 87 to 1.
Both Monsanto and Dow are now suing Maui County over the decision in federal court. They're asking a judge to immediately prevent the law from taking effect. They're also seeking to overturn the new law.
The lawsuit also says that if GMO operations are suspended in Hawaii — where the warm weather allows for a high number of seed cycles per year — Monstanto would be forced to downsize its business operations in Maui where hundreds of people are employed, tending more than 3,000 acres of farmland.
A measure to require labeling of GMOs was defeated in Colorado on November 4; a similar measure in Oregon remains too close to call.
As it stands, the vote means a temporary moratorium is in place on the farming of GMOs in Maui until the county conducts its own studies on the safety of farming and eating genetically modified crops. “I feel that this is a really strong message to the entire agrochemical industry in the state of Hawaii that we are no longer going to sit idly by and watch them expand their operations without the kinds of regulations that ensure the health and safety of people across Hawaii,” Ashley Lukens, the director of the Hawaii chapter of a non-profit called The Center for Food Safety, told the Honolulu Civil Beat.
While Lukens may have succeeded in rallying Hawaiians to reject a technology with which many people are clearly uncomfortable, what does the science have to say about the safety of GMOs?
The Genetic Literacy Project points to a meta-analysis done by Italian scientists in 2013. A meta-analysis looks at data from a number of different studies, all taken together to highlight trends. The researchers in this case looked at 1,783 different studies which analyzed the safety of GMOs from 2002 to 2012 — a huge number. Equally striking was their conclusion: they failed to find a single study that concluded GM crops were unsafe. “The scientific research conducted so far,” says one of the authors of the meta-analysis, “has not detected any significant hazards directly connected with the use of genetically-engineered crops."
So does this mean that Maui’s decision to ban GMO research and farming is short-sighted? It depends on your point of view. Many who voted for the ban may be dismayed at Monsanto’s (and other companies’) business activities regarding developing and patenting various seed varieties. But it would be a shame if the benefits of GMOs (see Golden Rice, for example) were tossed out of the public discourse like the proverbial baby in the bathwater.
