Kauai group finds no harms tied to pesticide use
A fact-finding group said in its final report this week that it found no conclusive evidence of adverse health effects or environmental impacts due to pesticide use by seed companies on Kauai.
The report was released Wednesday by the Joint Fact-Finding Group, a team of nine Kauai citizens with science backgrounds, and was funded by the state Department of Agriculture and the office of Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho.
“The JFFG was charged with gathering accurate information on 1) the lands used by the seed companies and Kauai Coffee, 2) their pesticide usage, and 3) evidence of any possible adverse health and environmental impacts,” the Agriculture Department said in a press release.
The group grew out of health concerns and an effort to require Kauai seed companies to track pesticide use and regulate how they grow genetically modified crops on the Garden Isle.
State agricultural officials said claims about pesticide exposure on Kauai were inaccurate.
“I would like to thank the volunteer citizens who gave their time and energy serving on the Joint Fact-Finding Group,” said Scott Enright, chairman of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture.
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The group in its report said more environmental monitoring and better information should be collected in the future.
The study followed incidents reported in 2006 and in 2008 at Waimea Canyon Middle School, where teachers and students complained of dizziness, nausea and headaches. Some residents suspected the cause was pesticide drift.
Scientists later found that there was no evidence of pesticide abuse by a nearby seed company and that stinkweeds growing near the middle school emitted noxious odors that could have been the source of the trouble.
Peter S. Adler, project director of the study group, said while there was no causal relationship found, the group was at times unable to gather the information it sought.
He said the group was unable to collect information about any medical findings of individuals possibly affected by pesticide poisoning, because of medical confidentiality laws.
“We don’t have that information,” he said. “We just need to do much more about rapid response.”
State legislators have approved spending $500,000 to improve air and water quality monitoring on Kauai.
Enright said California has done cutting-edge work in monitoring pesticide uses and that his department will be looking for guidance at what California has done in air and water quality monitoring.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” he said.
11 responses to “Kauai group finds no harms tied to pesticide use”
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Uh, how about the effects of fire upon the chemicals? Just because death stats are normal powerful chemicals are used.
Looks like they are using the same play book that the Tobacco Companies used. Smoking doesn’t cause Cancer. Yea right. I’m not buying it too.
As citizens with actual science backgrounds, this group is obviously biased. Not only that, but they were supported by, gasp, the Department of Agriculture. The deck has been stacked against the environmental wackos.
These people aren’t even pseudo-scientists or non-credentialed environmentalists like us anti-GMO advocates! Why listen to them.
Typical “…found no conclusive evidence of adverse health effects or environmental impacts due to pesticide use by seed companies on Kauai.” Don’t look to hard because poison does have harmful effects … that is why it is called a poison. And the world sees more and more types and tons of it used every year. It does get into our water, air, and soil and our bodies. The chemical cocktails are a huge unknown across the board. Keep the yellow caution flags flying.
I wonder why; anyone funded by mayor carvalho is being funded indirectly
by the pesticide companies themselves.
No studies, no information = nothing wrong…Sounds like fact based science to me.
I hope everyone realizes that when they say “no conclusive evidence” they mean nothing that would certainly stand up in court, not that pesticide use is safe. It’s been established for a long, long time that pesticides are poisonous to people and other animals as well as to insects. In other words, this report is pretty much worthless.
Yes! Pesticides are poison. No one disputes that. Gas is poison if you drink or breath it. But you regularly pump it into your car standing unprotected at the pump. Safety is in the application, use and handling of those poisons which even in the anti-ag biased JFF committee’s report could find no evidence of misuse.
Point is that the companies by and large follow standard safe practices. Even the occasional slip up is mitigated.The public is pretty safe.
Why are they so afraid of organic farming? Because it’s a chemical company trying to sell it’s poisons.