Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: Mixed Plate

Media Credit: nativeharvest.com nativeharvest.com is an organization for free GMO food and Indian rights founded in part by Winona LaDuke. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: http://www.gmo-free-regions.org/ Europe is the biggest anti-GMO advocates in the world as seen by the near universal illegality of it in the West and East European countries. [Click to enlarge]

Last Monday, a presentation was held at the Hawaiian Studies building at the University of Hawai‘i to promote the awareness of Genetically Modified foods, or GMs.

Among the group were Winona LaDuke, indigenous rights activist and Ralph Nader's two-time running Vice-President under the Green party, Louie Hena of the Traditional Native American Farmers Association, Paula Garcia of the New Mexico Acequia Association, and Andrea Hanks, coordinator of the Wild Rice Campaign.

The topic was GMs and the effect they have on crops and the people who make and buy them.

According to LaDuke, the term "genetically modified" refers to a scientific procedure in which genes are extracted from one organism and injected into another to bring about a certain trait. Some of the crops being genetically modified are wild rice, corn, and taro.

"(Scientists) can take the DNA of wild rice and stick it into something else," LaDuke said, "and that we found to be quite alarming."

Some of the benefits of GMs are that they are cheap, and can grow larger than conventionally grown crops. However, LaDuke and the other activists feel that the weaknesses of the GMs drastically outweigh the benefits.

One of the major concerns they address is contamination of the products.

"Once (scientists) have genetically engineered something, they've let the genie out of the bottle," she said. "There is no reversing of the contamination and there is no controlling the contamination."

LaDuke believes that the earth is sacred and should be treated as such. She and the other activists say that big corporations using GMs are there to squander money out of hardworking people.

Many activists have taken different measures to combat the use of GMs, including signing petitions and lobbying the legislature. Their main goal is to urge people to become aware of the issue and to take charge.

"What's more important?" asked Hena. "The corporation that has five people on the board … or this committee of 30,000 elected officials?"

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