Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Pesticide Exposure at Waimea Canyon Middle School

The legislature passed two pesticides bills this year, HB1646 and HB1641, drawing attention to the increasing problem of pesticides exposure in our neighborhoods and around our schools. In the past year, three schools were forced to close due to toxic fumes from pesticide spraying; the most recent incident was Kahuku High School which closed for several days in May 2007.

Now a group on Kauai, called Maluia-WCMS (Waimea Canyon Middle School), made up of staff, parents, and concerned community members, have created a blog to document an on-going problem with pesticide spraying. Here is the link to their blog, which contains a You Tube video of the spraying activity. The group claims that the press has given the public safety issue facing Waimea Canyon Middle School minimal attention. They also claim that Syngenta, the company that is spraying pesticides on agricultural lands west of the school, has broken their agreement not to spray before 3:30 p.m., while students, teachers and staff are still on campus. They report that since then there have been a number of complaints of symptoms indicative of pesticide exposure.

3 comments:

James Gonser said...

I received an email from Maluia that while the two bills passed do not help their specific situation, they will be seeking legislation that does.

Anonymous said...

It is important for the legislature to understand that these are not just accidental incidents but a statewide as well as national issue that needs to be addressed. It's time to take action against the control of government by corporate interests.

Anonymous said...

Aloha,

There will be a GMO AWARENESS EVENT on the weekend of September 3 and 4, 2007 at Baldwin Beach Park, Paia, Maui Hawaii, hosted by the kingdom of Hawaii Nation Ministry Trust. The event will be a free, pot luck/ brown bag, non-political, educational event, speakers will include Dr. Lorrin Pang of Maui and Jerry Kunanui of the Big Island. There will be entertainment, including live Hawaiian music.

We would love to have a student, parent, or teacher from waimea Canyon School, or any school that has been directly affected, to speak and share what happened there at the event. Those who would like to speak, please contact Lissa Messenger at (808) 575-9095 or better, Lissa_Messenger@yahoo.com

EVERYONE IS INVITED!!!

HAWAII IS THE NUMBER ONE FIELD TEST SITE FOR GMO'S IN THE WORLD!! OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS ARE BEING USED AS A GIANT TEST TUBE, WITH GRAVE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PEOPLE AND AINA

If you would like to contribute to the ANTI-GMO LEGAL OFFENSE FUND, to help rid Hawaii (through the courts) of all GMO's, please send a check or money order to:

Kingdom of Hawaii Nation Ministry Trust, Majesty Akahi Nui, Trustee
Poste Box 2845 Moku aina O Wailuku
Mokupuni o Maui, ke Aupuni O Hawaii

Make sure to specify that the contribution is for the Anti-GMO legal offense fund. Mahalo