The high-profile debate about genetically modified food is not showing up as much as a political cause at the polls.

Most of the Hawaii candidates who opposed GMO food or supported GMO labeling did not do well in the Aug. 9 primary election.

Kauai, described by GMO opponents as "ground zero" for GMO protests, had several political test cases and the anti-GMO candidates did poorly.

Kauai, the state’s most rural major island, sparked much of the GMO debate last year when the County Council passed a law over Mayor Bernard Carvalho’s veto to require large farms to set up buffer zones around their crops and also disclose their pesticide use.

The county ordinance is now being fought in court with Syngenta, DuPont Pioneer and Agrigenetics Inc., a company affiliated with Dow AgroSciences, all suing the county, claiming that the law arbitrarily targets their industry.

Kauai politician Gary Hooser, who is a former state senator and now a councilman, has been one of the anti-GMO leaders.

His son, Dylan, who also is a strong supporter of the anti-GMO ordinance, ran against incumbent Democratic Rep. Jimmy Tokioka and lost 63 percent to 29 percent.

Tokioka explained that his district is home to many retired sugar plantation workers and GMO does not carry the same fears expressed in other parts of Kauai.

"It is really the silent majority. There was a clear message that Kauai is not opposed to GMO as people may have thought. Compared to people who showed up at the rallies, the votes didn’t reflect it," Tokioka said in an interview.

On Maui, political newcomer Terez Amato said she partially decided to run against Sen. Roz Baker after Baker’s committee killed a bill to require labeling of GMO products.

Amato lost by 451 votes, a 9 percentage point difference.

On Oahu, another strong anti-GMO proponent, Robert Harris, the former executive director of the Sierra Club, lost in the Windward 48th District primary to fellow attorney Jarrett Keohokalole.

During the campaign, Keohokalole said the required labeling of food was best left to the federal government and not the state or counties.

If the anti-GMO movement has yet to find its political legs, it is still expected to be a controversial issue before state and county bodies.

Hawaii is not so much "ground zero" as it is the locus for much of the genetic makeup of corn grown in the U.S. and around the globe.

A recent Associated Press report said seed corn grown in Hawaii is a $217 million a year business, exceeding the value of both sugarcane and macadamia nuts.

But, as Kauai Democrat Tokioka said: "The voters will never end the debate."

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at  rborreca@staradvertiser.com.