The citizens of Maui county were able to pass the GMO Moratorium (which can be lifted with an environmental study) despite $7.9 million dollars spent to defeat it by Monsanto and Dow. Monsanto and Dow immediately announced they will be filing a lawsuit to prevent the GMO initiative from going into effect.
This follows the pattern of the chemical companies in Hawai'i. Kaua'i county passed an ordinance creating a buffer zone between the chemical spraying and schools. Syngenta, Dow et al sued and got it overturned on the basis that the state's "right to farm" law pre-empted the state from regulating pesticides. The judge ruled that that was the only reason to overturn the ordinance and that there were valid concerns.
The Big Island who has seen widespread contamination of their conventional and organic papaya crops from the GMO papaya and passed a no new GMOs ban (figuring it was too late to save their papaya). They were immediately sued and have an injunction against enforcement as the lawsuit wends its way through the courts.
So Maui organizers knew that the lawsuit was coming. Their question: "If you claim thousands of studies showing safety, why not just submit them, get the moratorium lifted and go on your way." I'll leave the answer to that question as an exercise for the reader.
There was much misinformation promulgated by Dow and Monsanto.
1. "Law is poorly written". Actually you can read it for yourself and it is clearly written.
2. "Expensive". Dow and Monsanto will be paying for the studies NOT the County. And only if they want to prove their operations safe and continue them. The studies will be a drop in the bucked compared to the $millions that they have already spent and plan to spend on litigation.
3. "Ban on farming". GMO operations comprise only 1-2% of Maui farming and other than a GMO coffee plantation and a small Kula corn farmer, all GMOs are planted by Dow and Monsanto.
4. "Papaya police checking your back yard for GMOs". Maui county passed a GMO Taro ban in 2009 and there has been no "taro police".
5. "Harms farmers". GMO crops in the ground can live out their lifecycle. The few food farmers using them can then plant conventional seeds.
6. "Backyard farmers fined". You cannot buy GMO seeds at the store. Except for GMO papaya, all GMO seeds require a signed contract before a farmer can buy them. Some of our papaya are already contaminated with GMO DNA. If you unknowingly plant one of these, you will not have violated the law because the transgression has to be "knowing and intentional".
See a well-balanced discussion of the initiative process by Rep Kaniela Ing.
Mayoral challenger Tamara Paltin gives a good clarification as Maui Mayor Arakawa (recipient of Dow and Monsanto donations) repeats misinformation from the Dow/Monsanto campaign against the initiative here.