Hawai`i, with its many micro-climates and its multiple growing seasons, is a dream site for field testing of genetically engineered organisms. To date, three proposals have been made to conduct such tests; many more can be expected. But the state has no way to regulate these tests. That can pose a problem, especially when the genetically engineered organism is closely related to a native one. Such was the case with one proposed test: The proposer, Cal-gene, Inc., wanted to field test genetically engineered cotton on Kaua`i, which is home to a Hawaiian strain of cotton. House Bill 2669 was designed to give the state power to regulate such introductions. It would have amended Chapter 343, the state’s law on Environmental Impact Statements, so that anyone wanting to use Hawai’i as a test site for genetically engineered organisms would be required to prepare an Environmental Assessment.<\/p>\n
The bill got nowhere. Opponents said they didn’t object to the bill per se so much as they regarded it as unnecessary – that it essentially duplicated the federal review process, supervised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; that the state had in place already a mechanism for providing input into the federal review; and that, in any event, the small number of releases proposed for Hawai’i made it silly to pass legislation to deal with them. Moreover, the bill’s opponents appear to have sought to turn the debate over the bill into a debate over the motives behind it. Rep. Jim Shon, the bill’s introducer, was accused of self-aggrandizement, as was Bob Grossmann, a special assistant to the Director of Health and who, when he worked at the Office of Technology Assessment, helped prepare its report on field-testing of genetically engineered organisms.<\/p>\n
Testimony opposed to the bill was provided by Stephen Brauer, president of Hawaii Biotechnology Group Inc. and a member of a committee set up to help the Department of Health plan a strategy for monitoring research in biotechnology. Brauer states that the committee determined there was no need for statutory changes. Some of the most important “testimony” against the bill won’t be found in committee files. Val Giddings, a senior staff geneticist with the USDA – and a former student at the University of Hawai’i – flew in from Washington to “clarify” the federal regulatory process. The reason for USDA intervention, he states, was the committee report that accompanied the bill as it passed out of Shon’s committee. That report, according to Giddings, misrepresented the USDA review process – so much so that when Giddings brought it to the attention of his superior, he got the go-ahead to come out to Hawai’i for a week to clear things up. “If the committee report hadn’t been so flawed,” Giddings says, “it’s difficult for me to see that there would’ve been anything to bring me out there.” The description of the “across the board” federal review process was in error, he said, and the reference to field-testing of engineered cotton on Kaua’i was especially misleading – since USDA regulators themselves took into account the presence of endemic cotton plants on Kaua`i.<\/p>\n
Giddings says his message, delivered to lawmakers and anyone else who would listen, was consistent and contained three points: First, USDA has no problem with state regulation; that’s the state’s prerogative. Second, although he was not in Hawai’i to lobby for or against any particular bill, with respect to the specific bill to regulate field-testing of genetically engineered organisms, USDA did not think it was necessary since it “didn’t offer anything above and beyond already available protection at the federal level.” Third, he wanted to make people in Hawai’i understand that if the Legislature did pass H.B. 2669, USDA stood willing and eager to cooperate.<\/p>\n
However benignly Giddings would regard his visit, others didn’t see it so. Many thought he was brought in to kill the bill – and, to be sure, it seems as though his visit did little to enhance the bill’s prospects. Moreover, whatever the content of his message, it clearly had the effect of throwing cold water on the prospects for passage of H.B. 2669 – raising in some people’s minds serious questions about the propriety of USDA actions.<\/p>\n
Given the animosity that developed, testimony by the University of Hawai`i Environmental Center may provide the most dispassionate commentary on the merits of the issue. Few would accuse the center of being alarmist; many consider it authoritative. Thus, it is worth noting that the center’s Jacquelin Miller and John Harrison told the House Health Committee: “the present need for statutory language to require review of proposed releases of genetically modified organisms [is] so critical that immediate action is warranted.” The bill passed the House, but died in the Senate Health Committee (Andrew Levin, chair). That “critical … immediate action will just have to wait until next year.”<\/p>\n
Volume 1, Number 1 July 1990<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hawai`i, with its many micro-climates and its multiple growing seasons, is a dream site for field testing of genetically engineered organisms. To date, three proposals have been made to conduct such tests; many more can be expected. But the state … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[193],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-july-1990"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}