Protect Our Keiki, ʻĀina and Farm Workers from Pesticide Drift& Support Healthy Soils
Protect Our Keiki, ʻĀina and Farm Workers from Pesticide Drift& Support Healthy Soils
Several important bills to protect our keiki, ʻāina and farm workers from excessive pesticide drift and to support a more regenerative food system have been scheduled for hearings this Friday!
A joint hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food Systems and the House Committee on Energy and Environment will hear a bill to ban the toxic fumigant Telone (1,3-D) and a bill to support a Healthy Soils Program on Feb. 6th at 9am in Conference Room 325 (and virtually). Testimony is due by Thursday at 9am (although late testimony is still accepted).
The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment will be hearing several measures to increase buffers, improve pesticide use reporting and protect pollinators on Feb. 6th at 3pm in Conference Room 224. Testimony is due by Thursday at 3pm (although late testimony is still accepted).
Please take a moment to submit as many testimonies in support as you are able!
If you have not done so already you will need to create an account with the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website to submit testimony.
Support HB 1880: Ban Telone II (1,3-Dichloropropene)
What Does This Bill Do?
Beginning 1/1/2027, prohibits the use or application of a pesticide containing 1,3-dichloropropene as an active ingredient, such as Telone.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support HB 1880 which bans the use or application of a pesticide containing 1,3-dichloropropene as an active ingredient, such as Telone.
Classified as a likely carcinogen in the United States, 1,3-D is currently banned in 40 countries.1,3-D is listed as a Prop 65 carcinogen and a Toxic Air Contaminant by the State of California. It is also a water contaminant.
Analysis of restricted use pesticide (RUP) reporting data in Hawaiʻi reveals consistently high 1,3-D usage by 1-2 users across several years since RUP use reporting was first mandated in 2019. In many years it was the most heavily applied (total pounds) RUP in Hawaiʻi. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been applied in Central Oʻahu. UpCounty Maui usage has been high as well. Usage occurs near schools, homes and other sensitive areas.
Telone can drift for miles from the application site. Reports have indicated that harmful levels can occur even when tarps are used. As a fumigant, 1,3-D is highly volatile, meaning it turns into gas and moves off-site, sometimes weeks after application.
Air monitoring has detected hazardous levels of 1,3-D more than half a mile from treated fields. One instance in California showed harmful levels from a source over seven miles away.
Support HB 1880. Please prioritize public health and ban Telone (1,3-D).
Your Name, Town
Support HB 1621 : Healthy Soils Program
What Does This Bill Do?
Establishes a Conservation Agriculture and Soil Health Incentive Program within the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission. Requires an annual report to the Legislature.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support HB1621. Healthy soils provide many environmental and economic benefits, by supporting healthy crops and a productive ag sector, capturing carbon/climate change mitigation, making plants more pest and climate impact resilient and less dependent on costly inputs. Healthy soils are the foundation of a healthy food system.
We must provide farmers with education and technical assistance to implement farm management practices that contribute to healthy soils and issue awards and other financial incentives to implement farm management practices that contribute to healthy soils.
In recent decades we have learned a great deal about the importance of microbial life, soil biodiversity and the potential for our soil to capture carbon, aiding in mitigating climate change. The impacts heavy industrial practices have in depleting our local soil health for over a century, we must move away from the outdated practices of sterilizing lands with pesticides and herbicides and killing the soil microbes and life, and instead support the biodiversity of insects and microbes that are beneficial to soil health. Please support HB1621.
Mahalo for your consideration!
Your Name, Town
Support SB 2100: Improve Pesticide Use Reporting
What Does This Bill Do?
Requires quarterly rather than annual reporting of all use of restricted use pesticides. Amends the contents of reports to include specific geospatial data and information and increased detail on the amount of restricted use pesticides used. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to develop an online reporting tool for restricted use pesticides.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support SB 2100. Pesticide exposure can cause significant harm to public health and the environment. Restricted use pesticides have been deemed to have a high potential to cause harm to surrounding communities, farm workers, pollinators, the environment, and other crops
Comprehensive pesticide use data is essential to accurately assess risks and ensure that communities are protected from adverse impacts. The current reporting system in Hawaiʻi does provide geographically specific enough data to conduct credible public health studies.
Publicly reported data on each RUP is summarized by island. Any resident who might have concerns about what is being used nearby has no way of gleaning more geographically specific information. California currently requires reporting within a square mile, which allows enough specificity for credible studies to be conducted to meaningfully assess risk and health impacts.
The creation of an online portal for RUP users to upload their usage data and for public reporting would require an initial investment, but ultimately would save considerable time and resources once established while providing the transparency communities have sought for decades.
Please support SB 2100.
Your name, Town
Support SB 2103: Increased Buffer Zones Around Schools & Parks
What Does This Bill Do?
Requires the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to use consistent units of measurement in its summary to the public on the amounts of restricted use pesticides applied. Beginning 1/1/2027, establishes a one-half mile buffer zone for pesticides around schools during normal school hours and state and county public parks.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Please support SB 2103. An abundance of scientific literature on pesticide drift and the unique susceptibility of children to pesticide exposure provide a sound argument for establishing meaningful buffer zones to ensure even protections for communities, children, elderly and sensitive areas.
Analysis of restricted use pesticide (RUP) usage data in Hawaiʻi has revealed that many communities are still heavily exposed to drift prone pesticides. 100’ buffer zones are simply not supported by scientific research. Research has shown that certain pesticides are known to drift over a mile and cause health impacts. Keiki are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure and we must prioritize their health.
California has enacted similar legislation requiring pesticide buffer zones around schools, yet still maintains the most robust agricultural production and economy in the US. Hawaii can both meet its goals to increase local food production and protect our most vulnerable from pesticide drift.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) finds there to be a significantly increased health risk for children exposed to pesticides, and additional precautions must be taken to protect them from unintended exposure.
I am very concerned about long-term pesticide exposure of keiki while they are at school or at play in our parks, which constitutes a health threat that can lead to cancer, neurological, and respiratory damage, among other medical conditions.
Please protect our keiki and pass SB 2103.
Your Name, Town
Support SB 2333: Protect Pollinators
What Does This Bill Do?
Beginning 1/1/2027, prohibits the sale, possession, or use of a pesticide containing one or more neonicotinoid pesticides, under certain conditions. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to evaluate the potential impacts of and adopt any necessary control measures for neonicotinoid pesticide use on pollinating insects, native migratory and resident birds, aquatic organisms, and human health.
Why Is This Important? Sample Testimony:
Neonicotinoids are a class of synthetic, neurotoxic insecticides developed in the mid-1990s, which are now the single-most popular insecticide class globally. They permanently bind to the nerve cells of insects, overstimulating and destroying them. There is a plethora of research on the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides, with nearly all studies reporting negative effects largely in four main areas: impacts on human health, aquatic species, pollinators, and other living organisms, although impacts to pollinators are the most well known impacts.
Humans are often exposed to neonicotinoids through water contamination, with the pesticides leaching into groundwater and aquifers. This is proven through neonicotinoids being found in human urine samples, with half of the U.S. population being exposed to these pesticides. Exposure to neonicotinoids causes many different adverse health effects, particularly for prenatal exposure among pregnant women.
In addition to human health impacts, neonics are also shown to have negative impacts on many aquatic species. Studies show that neonicotinoids are widely detected in rivers, streams, and wetlands, often exceeding regulatory toxicity limits and persisting in aquatic environments for days to weeks, raising concerns about long-term impacts on aquatic life.
Research indicates that neonicotinoids persist in the environment, accumulating in soil, pollen, and nectar, leading to ongoing risks for pollinators. Neonicotinoids cause significant declines in Bumblebee and honey bee colony growth.
While aquatic species and pollinators are the two most prominent groups of affected species, there are also many other living organisms negatively affected by neonicotinoids. Various studies find that earthworms, deer, birds (especially granivorous), and arthropods are all negatively affected by neonics as well, with effects including reduced offspring survival and health, and reduced reproductive success.
Please support SB 2333.
Your Name, Town
Mahalo for taking the time to support Hawaiʻi's communities!
In solidarity,
The HAPA Team
New to Legislative Engagement? Learn more about how to engage in the Legislative Session!
Make sure you have set up your account on the Hawaiʻi State Legislature website. If you are new to the process, see this helpful page on legislative engagement 101 from the Public Access Room including a link on how to submit testimony!
