Banning the use of chemicals to kill weeds at county parks and along county roads was an important issue for local residents addressing the County Council Thursday. The group hopes to expedite the approval of a resolution that would do
Banning the use of chemicals to kill weeds at county parks and along county roads was an important issue for local residents addressing the County Council Thursday.
The group hopes to expedite the approval of a resolution that would do just that.
The ban would reduce the exposure of residents and visitors to chemicals that could trigger respiratory attacks, and dramatically lower a person’s resistance to illness, according to Kapa‘a resident Peggy Kadey.
She emphasized those points further following a meeting of the council’s Parks and Public Works Committee at the historic County Building.
Kadey said she was chemically poisoned during the commercial cleaning of her home in Washington state about four years ago, and has since moved to Kaua‘i to find relief.
Kadey occasionally dons masks to protect herself from pollutants, and has used air tanks while driving around the island.
The ocean breezes provide the best relief for her, allowing her to breathe almost normally, she said
Kadey and her husband, Ron, have led the charge to have the council resolution passed. The couple has founded the Kauai Network for the Chemically Injured to discourage the use of chemicals to control weeds on Kaua‘i.
The use of Roundup, an herbicide manufactured by Monsanto Company, has created a chasm among critics and supporters of chemical spraying on Kaua‘i.
Council Vice Chairman James Tokioka said the issue has become highly charged since the council took up the matter last May. “It is a very, very passionate issue,” Tokioka said, adding he has received phone calls at home that were laced with harsh words.
Peggy Kadey said she believes the council has had sufficient time in which to study the pros and cons of chemical spraying, and should make a decision soon.
“We like to see this resolved, of course, in favor of not using something that will cause further injury,” she said. “If we injured one more person, that is pretty serious.”
Kadey said she and her husband have received calls from people who have reported having negative physical reactions after driving or walking through areas on Kaua‘i that have been sprayed.
“We know that people have been injured by roadside spraying. We know that we have cases like that,” she said after the meeting. “We don’t want to see any additional injuries.”
The council committee deferred action on the request to approve the resolution Thursday, because a state expert on weed control, Dr. Phil Motooka, was not able to make it to the meeting.
Motooka is anticipated to attend a Jan. 20 meeting of the council committees to discuss the issue.
Motooka retired last month after 25 years with the University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Division.
Motooka received a four-year degree and a master’s degree in soil science at the University of Hawai‘i. He also received a doctorate degree in weed science from North Carolina State University.
He has served UH for more than 30 years on Kaua‘i, O‘ahu and the Big Island.
He is the lead author of “Weeds of Hawai‘i’s Pastures and Natural Areas: An Identification and Management guide,” touted as a valuable resource for ranchers, dairy farmers, land managers and conservationists, according to a Web site.
Claire Mortimer, a Kaua‘i resident, said she is concerned the council may give too much weight to Motooka’s upcoming testimony.
“I researched the doctor, and he has made some statements publicly and in some publications that are extreme, in terms of not being substantiated by scientific information,” Mortimer said.
She said Motooka has stated that Roundup, for instance, is not carcinogenic, and “there is literally, at this point, hundreds of scientific studies to provide that it is carcinogenic.”
Mortimer also said Motooka sent a letter to a Honolulu newspaper saying “that DDT is safe, cheap and effective.”
“Anybody who knows anything about DDT knows that is not true,” Mortimer said.
Studies have shown that DDT, an herbicide, can damage the liver, temporarily damage the nervous system, damage the reproductive system and can cause liver cancer. DDT was used nationwide, and was banned in 1972.
Tokioka said the council is asking Motooka to make a presentation because he is an expert in weed control.
Still, Mortimer said the scientist may not be knowledgeable about effects of herbicides on humans.
Mortimer said if the council is going to give Motooka the chance to share his expertise, the council also should give Dr. Marion Moses, founder of the San Francisco-based Pesticide Education Center, a chance to present his viewpoints at a council meeting.
Moses is a physician who specializes in occupational and environmental medicine, and has spent many years investigating and diagnosing pesticide-related illnesses, according to a Web site.
The mission of the Pesticide Education Center is to “educate consumers to make more informed choices to protect themselves, their families, their pets, their neighbors, and the environment from toxic pesticides,” text on the Web site says.
Tokioka and councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said they would welcome presentations by both experts and others before making a decision on the resolution.
“We need to get as much information for and against … It is the best way to deal with whatever comes,” Tokioka said.
Yukimura introduced the resolution in October, apparently in response to a council meeting or council meetings in May in which folks called for the ban on chemical spraying.
Kadey said she submitted a petition signed by 2,500 folks who want county workers, instead of spraying, to cut the weeds at county parks and along county roads. She said she will submit to the council the signatures of more people who feel the same way.
Instead of using Roundup to remove weeds, Kaua‘i County workers can employ a method that is approved for organic farming and is used in Oregon and Washington state by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, Kadey said.
John Frazier, the executive director of the Kauai Housing Development Corporation, suggested the use of “Burn/Out,” an organic herbicide he contended is safer to use than Roundup.
Frazier said his organization owns and operates the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Hale Kupuna senior apartments, an elderly housing project in Kalaheo.
Frazier said some apartment residents voiced concerns about respiratory problems when Roundup was used initially on the property some years ago.
Since Burn/Out has been used, there have not been any complaints, an operator at the housing project said.
Ron Kadey said the use of pesticides may very well contribute to asthma attacks on Kaua‘i.
That situation could be mitigated by reducing the use of Roundup on the island, he contended.
Action on the council resolution is pending.
In response to public concerns about chemical spraying, Mayor Bryan Baptiste has instructed county workers to put up warning signs in areas before spraying is done, county officials said.
Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
