I attended Jeffrey Smith's presentation on GMO food on Kauai on February 11th. I left the presentation ill. I mean literally physcially ill from the information presented. My stomach was twisted in knots and sore. I felt like throwing up. I went home and went straight to bed, unable to eat. I was so angry, so outraged that these GMO corporations have been allowed to contaminate the food supply of every unsuspecting citizen under the jurisdiction of the U.S.

Under the administration of the first George Bush, GMO's have been pushed upon us without our knowledge or consent. Genetically modified organisms have been in our food suppy since 1996 and go undetected because these corporations haven't been required to label them. Watch the video "The World According to Monsanto" and you will have a better understanding of why this GMO giant has been able to get away with this. A revolving door exists between Monsanta and the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is mandated to protect the consumer from unsafe food and drugs entering the market. They have been negligent in their job. Former attorney for Monsanto now heads the department in charge of developing FDA policy. GMO's have been determined to be as safe as non-GMO food under his watch. Intense political pressure by Monsanto and financial donations to important players in Congress and the White House, have kept the public in the dark.

Japan has banned all GMO products from the U.S. including the Hawaiian Rainbow Papaya that was genetically engineered to be resistant to the ring-spot virus. Japan has said that they are waiting and watching for the affects of GMO's on America's children. They are not alone. Many European nations ban GMO's as well as a list of other nations.

Look and see what diseases are on the rise that are affecting our keiki. Obesity and diabetes are two that come to mind. If you read the ingredients on processed foods you will find Corn Syrup, derived from GMO corn, in almost everything, but especially soda, fruit drinks, candy and fast food. There has been an unprecedented rise in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and other disorders.

I am focused on this issue because of the long term affects GMO's will have on the health and well being of our families. Now GMO proponents want to take the one pure food kanaka have, that has sustained our kupuna for generations and genetically engineer kalo. These corporations are targeting the food staples of the world such as corn and soy, and now kalo. They are trying to get patents on rice, wheat and other grains as well as countless other foods.

It is important for Kanaka to educate ourselves, our families and our communities about the hidden dangers of GMO's. It is lurking everywhere. In every can, package or box of processed foods sold in our local grocery store, used in many of the restaurants we take our families to eat and worst of all, in the foods served our children in the school cafeteria's across the U.S.

I urge everyone of you on Maoli World to read Jeffrey Smith's two best selling books "Seeds of Deception" and "Genetic Roulette". If it is hard for you to read than google Monsanto and GMO and you will find hundreds of thousands of hits. I do recommend watching the videos. It will blow you away the way these seed corporations target small farmers and put them out of business. It is the goal of these corporations to patent and own all of the seed supply in the world. The greed and dispicability of these organziations are beyond imaginable. And the American media has been silenced by the power they wield which is why we are uninformed.

Former sugar cane lands owned by the Big Five are now coming into the hands of these GMO corporations on Kauai. Prime ag land is being used to field test these organisms all the while unsuspecting residents living nearby have no clue of the hidden dangers. We are being used as guinea pigs, without our knowledge or consent and this is what is called the "land of the free"? Just one more way to kill us off. In fact, a Monsanto employee told one of their scientists who had become aware of safety issues but was forbidden to reveal it, just look at it this way, maybe we are solving the over-population problem. One other fact to piss you off, Monsanto doesn't serve any GMO's in their employee cafeteria. Why? Because they have the knowledge of the dangers that they keep hidden from Joe Public, while they protect themselves from these dangers.

So Kanaka Maoli, information is power. Educate yourselves, your families and your communities and refuse to buy GMO products. Take the power away from Monsanto, Syngenta and Pioneer. Go back to your natural diets of poi, uala, lu'au, fish and limu as much as possible. These are the foods that kept our ancestors healthy and strong and these are the diets we must go back to if we are to remain strong. I know that is asking a lot since so much of our aina is urbanized and our lo'i and loko i'a destroyed. We need to reclaim them, repair them and bring them back to functioning systems as part of our effort of reclaiming our independence.

Aloha aina,
Miliaulani