Please enforce bus stop rules
On Feb. 20, the Transportation Agency announced new bus stop rules for county bus stops. My question is, why are these rules not being enforced?
According to the County of Kauai Transportation Agency Rules and Regulations, no person shall occupy a bus stop in a manner that inhibits its full and adequate use by the public.
It seems that the time and effort spent by the Transportation Agency to create rules for the good of the public are being ignored and should be enforced without exception.
It is a health issue for any person waiting at the Kapaa bus stop. There is waste from numerous chickens as well as garbage, which the county then has to clean at the expense of the public.
Marga Goosen, Kapaa
Understanding nature versus GMO
The natural selection of genetically superior crops is good for mankind.
GMO crops are good for manufacturers of chemicals and seed monopolies.
The confusion is understanding what a GMO is. The term means a genetically modified organism that has been created in alaboratory using genetic modification/engineering techniques.
Nature selects biological advantages. Natural selection in agriculture is the genetic improvement of a crop by selection ofvarieties that have improved yields, larger or more nutritious fruits or more productive, drought resistant seeds.
Nature uses survival of the most fit or genetically adaptable individuals to overcome adverse or changing environmentalcircumstances.
GMO is defined as a genetically modified organism changed by deliberate artificial damage or the rearrangement of thenuclear material in a cell to add or change its genes.
For example, the insertion genes giving resistance to a pesticide allows farmers to spray weed killers that destroy weeds andother plants.
A terminator gene can be inserted that forces farmers to buy new patented seeds every year from their commercial supplier.
The GMO crop may be nutritionally equivalent to a naturally selected crop but the excessive pesticides sprayed may be toxicto consumers, bees and other organisms.
We all need to be better educated about long-term consequences of new techniques. Remember Agent Orange.
Carol Langford, MD, Koloa (Snowbird from Boston)
While GURT technology (terminator genes) has been developed, it is not commercially available. Many (if not most) farmers plant hybrid seeds which must be purchased every year anyway.
GMO technology is the same as the technology used in the early 2000’s for stem cell research which has made great strides in developing cures for cancer. People should recall the tumult the Bush administration caused when they banned this research.
It is important to stop blaming the technology itself and to focus our attention on what the technology is used for. Creating plants that are less susceptible to pesticides, which in turn leads to greater use of chemicals that are harmful to humans and the reefs and the rest of there environment is where protests and complaints should be focused, not on GMO itself. Not addressing the real problem allows disinformation to be spread that diffuses the efforts to promulgate better regulation of harmful chemicals.
Then too, since one of the chemicals that is so overused is glyphosate, Roundup, people should start walking the walk and not just talking (through their hat). There is a reason Home Depot has so many shelves of Roundup. I’ve found covering the ground for 3 months with black plastic does a much better job of controlling guinea grass than spraying anything.
Carol Langford’s letter is a prime example of why people should not publish their opinions when it is outside of their area of expertise. Worse, she is simply echoing the claims of others such as the mis-named Center For Food Safety and HAPA whose pogroms are merely a way to reap cash donations from naïve Hollywood types who also think they know everything about everything even when it’s way outside of their experience or knowledge. Good show Langford! I hope you don’t practice on your patients the way you do your research.
Carol, it’s been about 4 years since any one threw the terminator gene boogeyman into this FORUM. That’s because we had a few years of hysterical posts, such as yours, until it was patiently explained several times that such things exist only in theory! The rest of your post isn’t much better. Get a grip, girl!
Carol’s letter is full of misinformation. First, there is no terminator gene on the market. Second, many GM crops are developed by public universities, so chemical companies & seed monopolies see no benefit. Third, GM crops that resist insects actually reduce the use of pesticide sprays. Fourth, Genetic engineering replicates a process that has been occurring in nature for millions of years as bacteria and viruses regularly shuttle genes between different species. Even organic seeds are developed in labs through mutation breeding, which uses radiation to alter its genetic makeup.
Yes, we all do need to be better educated about new techniques — starting with Carol, who is sadly spreading fear and misinformation through her own ignorance!!
Or, Carol, a virus-resistant gene can be inserted into a plant to save a whole industry from collapse (rainbow papaya).
I’d say, as a species of (argumentatively) superior intellect and capabilities, the human race is pretty much winning the survival of the fittest game, not in small part by our advances in science, including the creation of genetically modified organisms.