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Groups Protest Genetic Engineering
kgmb9 ^ | January 12, 2006 | Colette P. Fox

Posted on 01/13/2006 9:20:29 PM PST by proud_yank

A conference in Waikiki sparked a protest today over an industry that's beginning to thrive in Hawaii - biotechnology.

Police monitored a small group of Native Hawaiians and environmentalists who gathered to protest practices in genetic engineering. Across the street, more than 300 people gathered from around the Pacific Rim to share ideas and compare progress in the larger field of biotech.

"The biotech industry isn't paying any attention to the serious risk to human health and the environment of their experiments," said Isaac Moriwake of Earthjustice. "The result is they're turning the people of Hawaii and the lands of Hawaii into basically a big open air experiment for their profit seeking ventures."

Earthjustice has successfully filed a lawsuit to force an environmental study of a biotech venture on the Big Island.

The protesters say genetically modified experimental crops, like corn grown in Central Oahu, could be bad for Hawaii's environment, human health and Hawaiian culture.

"They want our taro, they want our fish, they want our limu, they want our knowledge," said Walter Ritte, a longtime Hawaiian activist who flew over from Molokai for the protest. "All of that is going to be the base for this biotech. They're going to make money out of all of this. So we're trying to wake the Hawaiians and say wake up, say something, do something."

Inside the conference however, participants are hardly talking about food. The main topic is what experts call the "third wave" of biotechnology - industrial and environmental applications such as renewable energy.

"I wouldn't be leading this organization if I wasn't absolutely convinced that the environment will be better for this industry," said James Greenwood, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. "That our food will be safer and more abundant and that human health will be vastly improved by this science."

Despite such assurances from industry insiders, skeptical citizens are calling on the state to keep a close watch on this cutting-edge industry.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: earthjustice; environmentalists; geneticengineering; hawaii; protest
"The biotech industry isn't paying any attention to the serious risk to human health....

Like starvation for instance. The US was going to donate genetically modified corn that could grow in hot climates to Zambia, but GreenPeace convinced them not to take it as it was 'poisoned'.

skeptical citizens are calling on the state to keep a close watch on this cutting-edge industry.

What the press doesn't say, is that this is being watched: EPA link to GE Foods
1 posted on 01/13/2006 9:20:30 PM PST by proud_yank
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To: proud_yank

300 nutjobs is all they could get, their numbers seem a bit
low.


2 posted on 01/13/2006 9:32:08 PM PST by claptrap (optional tag-line under reconsideration)
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To: claptrap

The nutjobs could be put to a good use by serving as experimental subjects. Maybe [who knows?] it could be possible to turn a nutjob greenpisser into something normal by a judicious genetic manipulation. And failing in that noble but difficult goal, they could probably produce biodiesel.


3 posted on 01/13/2006 9:42:01 PM PST by GSlob
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To: claptrap
300 nutjobs is all they could get, their numbers seem a bit low.

That's how many attended the conference, the article never says how many protesters other than " a small number" Probably so small the paper decided on purpose not to say how many.

Every time any species has offspring the result is a genetic experiment: The genes are mixed randomly and each outcome is unique. The only thing unnatural is the cross species mixing of genes. Even that happens to a degree in nature due to similar viruses spreading among different species.

4 posted on 01/13/2006 9:57:13 PM PST by Nateman ( Clinton happens.)
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To: GSlob

ROFL!


5 posted on 01/13/2006 10:25:46 PM PST by proud_yank (Aspiring CEO of a multinational corporation)
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To: proud_yank

How much do you want to bet that these same folks are rabid supporters of fetal stem cell research and human cloning?


6 posted on 01/13/2006 10:26:45 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Peace Begins in the Womb)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Probably about as much as I would wager that they smell like rank BO and drive old cars that get crappy mileage :-)


7 posted on 01/13/2006 10:42:26 PM PST by proud_yank (Aspiring CEO of a multinational corporation)
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