To: Pacific Islands Fish And Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish Wildlife Hawaii Administrative Site, State of Hawaii Land Use Commission, and State of Hawaii Dept. of Land & Natural Resources

U.S. Fish & Wildlife and State of Hawaii: Protect Kauai’s Fragile Ecosystem

Hawaii accounts for less than 0.2% of U.S. land, but over 25% of species found on the nation's endangered species list are endemic to Hawaii, earning it the title of “endangered species capital of the world.”

Kauai’s west side has over 26,000 acres of Designated & Proposed Critical Habitat under the Endangered Species Act and our island is home to 48 Endangered or Protected Species.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife has/had a moratorium on all GMO crops in 22 states on their land to protect critical habitat for fragile species, and has suffered from lawsuits across the country relating to the allowance of GM crops on public and protected lands. We urge you to protect the fragile ecosystem of Kauai in the same manner.

Kauai is a very unique GMO market, as these companies are specifically working on open-air experimental testing of GMOs, in a year-round growing season, with highly toxic restricted use pesticides. Hawai’i has had 5.4 times more GE crop field releases per unit area than Illinois and deserves stricter regulation and protection.

We ask that you immediately:

• Halt all leasing of state lands to corporations involved in GMO production and seed R&D on Kauai
• Publicly support Kauai County Bill 2491 and specifically, a moratorium on GM crops in Kauai, prohibition of open-air experimental testing, and a formal, in-depth EIS

Why is this important?

Kauai, Hawaii's state lands should not be used as a testing site for R&D seed production by chemical corporations. An unexplained massive die-off of over 52,000 sea urchins and subsequent large-scale deaths of bees and birds reported by residents, are speculated to be results of the toxic biocides used by the local GMO companies and are causing great concern from the community.

Additionally, over 150 residents are suing Pioneer/DuPont for unlawfully allowing pesticide drift into their homes for over a decade, and there have been several incidences at a local middle school where children and teachers got sick. One incident resulted in at least 10 children being taken to the hospital. In September, over 3,500 residents marched in support of the bill and thousands more have submitted testimonies to the County Council in support of bill 2491, which is aimed to protect the community and fragile environment from pesticide abuse.