With the recent concern about chemicals in food, GMOs have come under heavy fire. Some counties have taken it as far as to ban GMOs in their foods. Such is the case for Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington state. Agriculture giant Monsanto recently filed a lawsuit to overturn the ruling on states being able to ban GMOs and lost. There are arguments that not being able to genetically engineer crops means they will not be as reliable, while most people are worried about what is going into the food.
Key Takeaways:
- Preventing state and local governments from being able to regulate crops that were at one time considered plant pests would have a “backwards effect,” because they are able to regulate conventional and organic crops that raise fewer concerns among local officials.
- Officials with the company said they were proud to be a part of the agricultural community in Hawaii, where it has 1,000 employees, and understands its “responsibility to farm sustainably and to work collaboratively,” an emailed statement to the paper noted.
- A panel of judges decided to overturn an earlier ruling which held that Maui County in Hawaii was not permitted to ban commercialized GMO crops in 2014, because the local ordinance was preempted by federal rules governing biotechnology.
“local governments elected by local populations should have the right to decide for themselves what kind of agricultural products they want grown”