•GMOs make me sick •Lock him up GMOs make me sick Whenever a concerned citizen raises the question of a large corporation, (corn company) polluting our lives, the corporation in question always brands the concerned person as an alarmist (“GMOs
•GMOs make me sick
•Lock him up
GMOs make me sick
Whenever a concerned citizen raises the question of a large corporation, (corn company) polluting our lives, the corporation in question always brands the concerned person as an alarmist (“GMOs enhance our lives,” Letters, June 3).
Are the corn companies introducing substances into our environment on Kaua‘i that adversely impact our health is the real question. A corn company spraying pesticides that kills 25 colonies of honey bees in Hanapepe Valley, that is a fact, they were my bees ad the spray also knocked me out for a few minutes.
The operator of the spray tractor said to me, “When you see me spraying, you better leave. One whiff of what I spray will kill you.” I stay far away from corn companies because they spray pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and chemicals that kill my bees, give me headaches and make me throw up.
GMOs are a mystery to me and all I know is I haven’t been able to grow sweet corn since the corn companies moved into the neighborhood and the last crop was doing fine and then one day it just turned yellow, shriveled up and died. Nothing else was affected, just the corn.
The corn company grew corn upwind less than a mile away. I have read that corn pollen will travel six miles or so depending on the wind velocity. Since high fructose corn syrup was introduced into the American diet, obesity diabetes, tooth decay, cardio-pulmonary and all attendant diseases associated with a “civilized” diet have escalated dramatically.
Biotechnology may serve the guinea pigs who don’t know how to grow their own food but as an organic gardening, recycling composter intent on growing and sharing as much food as possible, I leave you with a word of wisdom from a hospital administrator and friend from Truk Lagoon.
When I asked my friend why no one ate the canned food shipped to Truk from America, my friend replied, “We have a saying, if you eat the white man’s food you will end up in the white man’s hospital. Before the war, we grew all our own food, taro, bananas, breadfruit, coconuts, papayas, pineapple and watermelons. Life was good, everyone was healthy and happy. Then the soldiers came with their canned food, coffee, cigarettes, and beer. And we could see and feel what it did to our health. We saw our people get sick and lazy and look at the young people now, on welfare and angry. Life was better before the soldiers came, the old ways are better.”
My friend Faifua in western Samoa said, “Plant what you want to eat. Everyday you plant, everyday you eat.” Faifua plants taro, breadfruit, bananas, mangos, and feeds a lot of people. Using machete and an o‘o, composting, building soil, and growing healthy food, and Faifua can climb a 60-foot coconut tree in a flash.
Mr. Olson is an employee of a corn company, what else did we expect him to say? There are as many ways to grow food as there are farmers and let your methods enhance life, not destroy it. Grow healthy food, be happy.
Ua mau ke ea o ka aina ika pono! The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
One of the nice things about life on Kaua‘i is that we have the freedom to grow our own food, breathe fresh air, be healthy, happy and share the good things in life. The biggest bummers are when the sugar company burns cane and the corn companies spray poison and kill our bees.
When you’re healthy life is great! When you’re sick, life is not so much fun. There is a federal public right to know law that states that anyone spraying agricultural chemicals must post in a public place, what they are spraying, when they will spray and when they will not spray if the wind exceeds six miles per hour. Do the corn companies follow the law?
Corn companies are moving to Kaua‘i from Moloka‘i because Moloka‘i residents do not want them spraying poison near schools and residences. There is life and there is sickness and death. Corn companies spray poisons that cause sickness and death. The Leukemia and cancer cases around corn growing areas in the USA are going higher.
The truth can be found on the Internet. Check out pesticides. Am I an alarmist? Yes. I’m a canary in a coal mine. If Paul Revere hadn’t sounded the alarm, the British would have taken over America. Just another point of view.
Kawika Moke, Kekaha
Lock him up
The story on the front page was so sickening I couldn’t even get through it (“Po‘ipu man cited again,” The Garden Island, June 25).
What I would like to know is why Blaine Jacintho is not in jail?
The excuses he used about starting a new job! Where? On Mars? Does he work 24 hours a day?
I would like to see this guy’s picture on the front page so everyone can see what a real animal looks like. This behavior is unacceptable and he should be locked up and made an example.
Cheryl Campanale, Koloa
