Kauai families deserve good health and are entitled to accurate information about pesticides used on the Garden Island. Seed-crop company employees live in communities throughout the island and have similar interests.
The state Department of Agriculture, with support from the county of Kauai, implemented a joint fact-finding group to help put an end to the ongoing community divisiveness, legislative and court battles, and policy debates. The goal is to bring factual information to the forefront, and provide fact-based recommendations for government leaders.
The good news: The authors of the joint fact-finding draft report reviewed more than 100 published studies on the effects of pesticide exposure and concluded that the current literature does not demonstrate a cause-effect relationship between pesticide use on the island and environmental and health effects.
They also found “the Kauai health data examined does not show any causal relationship between the pesticides used by the seed companies and the health problems experienced by the Westside or any part of Kauai.” The same was true for the environmental health effects: “There is no statistically significant evidence that shows causality between seed company pesticide use and harms to Kauai’s flora and fauna.”
The joint fact-finding group was tasked to look beyond individual stories and anecdotes to compile relevant data. They asked insightful questions. They wanted to know if there were any detectable and measurable impacts on human or environmental health specifically associated with seed company pesticide practices. They wanted to see evidence.
They sought answers by first understanding the “footprint” of Kauai’s seed companies. They also wanted to know about the quantities of pesticides used by seed companies. In the spirit of cooperation, the seed crop companies shared a significant amount of information.
The draft report shows that the actual footprint of the four seed crop companies operating on Kauai is relatively modest. It also demonstrates how agriculture compares with other pesticide users on the Garden Island:
>> There is a total of 128,093 acres of agricultural lands on Kauai. Of this total, seed crop companies lease only about 10 percent — 13,549 acres — and they actually grow on a fraction of that.
>> More than three-fourths (77 percent) of restricted-use pesticides sold on Kauai are used for non-agricultural purposes. Structural fumigators use 41 percent of restricted-used pesticides sold on the island, while an additional 36 percent is used for water treatment and drinking water disinfection.
>> Less than a quarter (23 percent) of restricted-use pesticides sold on Kauai are used by agriculture. This includes all agricultural users. Seed crop companies account for an even smaller percentage.
Although the intent of the report was specifically to look at the Kauai seed crop companies, the authors suggest a need to look beyond the seed crop companies.
The authors noted that higher rates of some health conditions are not associated with agricultural pesticides and could instead be linked to other chemicals in our environment, including non-agricultural pesticides; chemicals from pharmaceuticals, plastics and cosmetics; and socioeconomic and morbidity factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use, and disparities in access to health care.
These findings show the diligence of the joint fact-finding group. And yet, despite finding no evidence of harm to humans or the environment, the report recommends vastly expanded regulatory measures.
Based on the draft report’s findings, there is a clear need for industry representatives, policymakers, experts and others in the community to work together to find reasonable and meaningful solutions for everyone. It is only through our collaboration that we will be able to determine the recommended next steps that will help us move forward together as a community.
As an industry, we believe revisions to this draft report are necessary and we will be submitting a formal response to the joint-fact finding group during this public comment period. We invite others to also view the report to decide for themselves what the future direction should be for Kauai. 
