I’m flabbergasted to be reminded yet again of the State of Hawaii’s negligence with regard to pesticide contamination.
I was recently sent a legal paper by David M. Forman Director, Environmental Law Program William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
His paper dense though it may be (as legal papers tend to be) – has awakened in me the awareness, concern, and outrage that enveloped our collective community for several years – in our ongoing fight to increase the regulation of pesticides across the islands.
The below snippet is now stuck in my brain. To my knowledge, no state agency has ever taken this investigation any further. Where did the Roundup come from? What impacts is it having on health and the environment? What should be done to mitigate those impacts? Have residents and users of those streams been notified of the risk?
Professor Forman’s report states:
“During deliberations on a proposed county ordinance (referencing Kauai Bill 2491), the Branch Chief for the Hawai‘i State Pesticide Branch offered damning testimony:
“We looked into stream sediments specifically for glyphosate, for Roundup, and we found Roundup in all of the samples that we took. All in all, we found 20 herbicides, 11 insecticides, 6 fungicides, 7 locations with glyphosate but […] there are no EPA benchmarks for […] glyphosate. So we found stuff but, frankly, we don’t know what it means and […] we don’t know how to compare that to any kind of health standards.59”
I will repeat: “We looked into stream sediments specifically for glyphosate, for Roundup, and we found Roundup in all of the samples that we took.”
IN EVERY SINGLE STREAM THEY TESTED THEY FOUND GLYPHOSATE IN THE SEDIMENTS. THEY FOUND 20 HERBICIDES, 11 INSECTICIDES, AND 6 FUNGICIDES – IN 7 DIFFERENT STREAMS. NOT ONE SINGLE STREAM TESTED WAS FREE OF PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION.
To my knowledge, the State of Hawaii took no further action to test these streams further or explore why or how this happened, or mitigate or inform the public.
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GaryHooser's Blog 
Typical democrats. Run everything into the ground while congratulating one another on how much control they have. Kauai would do better with some tough conservative leaders who understand hunting, fishing and nature. Enough mainland city folks making decisions for our small island.
Actually, the decisions made are being made by “local” folks (not mainland city folks) who dominate government decision-making. The Democratic Party has not been involved at all in this issue and all County elected positions are nonpartisan. Further, many of the strongest defenders of the pesticide companies who oppose regulation are the most conservative members of government.