Hawaii’s Maui County Sued By Monsanto And Dow For Protecting Its Land Against GMO Crops

Hawaii’s Maui County government has been sued by Monsanto and Dow because the majority of its people have voted yes to an initiative to ban GMO crops and development until they were determined to be safe. The “Genetically Modified Organism Moratorium Initiative” was approved on the November 4, 2014 election ballot by a majority percentage of 51.19% supporting the initiative.^[1]

The war chest to support the pro-GMO contained $8 million which went into advertising to oppose the initiative. The pro-GMO side was able to greatly outspend the the supporters of the initiative, but the people’s love for the safety of its people and land won out.

The initiative was proposed to stop the testing, modification, and planting of GMO crops until a public health study could be conducted to determine if the GMO practices were safe and harmless to the environment and people.

Understanding the climate they were working in, the supporters of the initiative didn’t stop there. The authors of the initiative sued the county in state court Wednesday to make sure the county implemented the law.

Monsanto and a Dow Chemical were prepared to make their case to stop the law from being implemented. Monsanto and Dow Chemical filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu on Thursday November 13, 2014, asking a judge to prevent the law from taking effect and to invalidate the measure.

Maui County is unable to speak on the issue right now because of the litigation of both parties. We are eager to see how this will play out.

References:
1. Maui County Genetically Modified Organism Moratorium Initiative (November 2014)