The Change Mariner

Suit targets genetic crops in Hawaii

Honolulu Star:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to properly regulate food crops that are genetically engineered to produce pharmaceutical compounds, according to a coalition of environmental groups suing the agency in federal court.
In allowing several dozen permits for open-air plantings of genetically engineered pharmaceutical-producing plant varieties in Hawaii over the past five years, the federal agency is violating the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, the plaintiffs say in a lawsuit filed today in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

Lawsuit plaintiffs are the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance (KAHEA) and national groups the Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, and the Pesticide Action Network of North America. Hawaii EarthJustice attorneys Paul Achitoff and Issac Moriwake are representing the plaintiffs.

“Open-air field testing of biologically active pharmaceuticals and other genetically engineered crops pose a real and imminent threat to Hawaii’s fragile biodiversity, in turn jeopardizing native Hawaiian cultural practices,” KAHEA Executive Director Cha Smith said in a statement.

“There is virtually no way of preventing biopharm test crops from contaminating our endangered species, native plants or agricultural crops,” Smith said. “KAHEA is calling for an immediate moratorium on field-testing of all genetically modified organisms in Hawaii until there is public notification and adequate regulations that will adequately protect our environment and human health.”

The USDA refused to detail where biopharmaceutical crops are planted in Hawaii, the plaintiffs said.