Maui Inches Closer to Beating Monsanto over New GMO Moratorium
An attorney for the SHAKA Movement in Hawaii that has been trying to uphold a democratically voted moratorium on GMOs on the island of Maui has reportedly said that residents and activists have won – an intervention in a federal lawsuit that was brought on by Monsanto and Dow trying to push their genetically modified agenda on islanders will not go through.
In other words, “proponents of the recently passed GMO Initiative on Maui have been given the green light to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging the measure.”
The following quote is from this source:
“Honolulu attorney Michael C. Carroll, who is representing the authors of the Maui GMO initiative tells Maui Now that the group won standing on Monday to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Monsanto which seeks to delay any enforcement of the measure and ultimately to have it declared unenforceable.”
The federal lawsuit filed last month against Maui County by Monsanto Co. and a unit of Dow Chemical Co. thankfully flew over judge, Barry Kurren, who has deep ties with Monsanto, Dow, and Big Ag. The judge has recently overturned a democratically voted initiative to limit GMOs on the Big Island of Hawaii. Without an upswelling of public pressure, he could have done the same in Maui.
Kurren previously ruled that laws instigated by Kauai and Hawaii banning GMOs were not applicable because the state, not the counties, had jurisdiction over the issue. Dow and Monsanto were hoping that Kurren would rule similarly on the recent ban on GMOs passed in Maui.
Likely due to pressure concerning his questionable allegiances, Kurren reassigned the Maui case to Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway. It is also due to the fact that both the plaintiffs and defendants had agreed earlier to allow a magistrate judge to try the case. Once the SHAKA Movement found out Kurren’s ties to biotech, they withdrew their approval for Kurren to preside over the case.
Maui voters clearly voted to ban GMOs on their November 4th ballots. Only a vote by the Maui County Council can lift the ban.
Last month, Judge Kurren ruled that Maui County couldn’t implement the law until he considered the lawsuit put forth by Dow and Monsanto.
Maui stands as a beacon of hope for other towns throughout the US who are interested in banning GMOs.
“Only a vote by the Maui County Council can lift the ban.” Nope. IF it’s ruled unconstitutional, unenforceable, etc, a judicial ruling can also scuttle the ban.
” An intervention in a federal lawsuit that was brought on by Monsanto and Dow trying to push their genetically modified agenda on islanders will not go through”
You do realize that is a blatent lie, don’t you?
go crawl under your rock you trolls
not sure the headline means what;’s in the content. They changed judges – big deal so what? It at least means when they rule against the vote they can’t blame the judge again. If I was an anti-GM nut job I would have kept the old judge at least you would have an excuse for failure and blame someone else
Tony, you’ve got a special case of stupid haven’t you.
As much as I would like to believe this headline, the article doesn’t say the new judge has ruled. I also find it hard to believe Monsanto/Dow wouldn’t appeal if the judge did rule in favor of the ban. Can you clarify this article?
I trust no one until foreign intervention is inflicted upon the americans,, their dirty judges will over rule anything as long as these corporations are running the country.
Yay!!!! We’ll take any win we can get
You used one of my photos without my permission. Emailing you now.
Thank you, the headline and article makes sense now 🙂
This is why laws based on popular votes alone are not good:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20121107/NEWS/121109799
If Alabama’s governor succeeds in removing racist language from Alabama’s constitution in spite of the vote, does this mean Alabama voters do not count?