Mike Ludwig
On August 23, US Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren ruled in favor of Syngenta, BASF, DuPont Pioneer and Agrigenetics, an affiliate of Dow Chemical in their challenge of Kauai County’s Ordinance 960, arguing that the local ordinance illegally pre-empted state laws regulating pesticides.
“This decision in no way diminishes the health and environmental concerns of the people of Kauai,” Kurren wrote in the order overturning the ordinance. “The court’s ruling simply recognizes that the state of Hawaii has established a comprehensive framework for addressing the application of restricted-use pesticides and the planting of GMO crops, which presently precludes local regulation by the county.”
The Kauai County Council passed Ordinance 960 in November 2013 after months of protests and divisive public debate that put the tight-knit island at the center of the global controversy over pesticides and GMOs.
The ordinance is one of the first grassroots attempts to regulate some of the world’s largest GMO seed producers at the local level.