Report Title:

Genetic Engineering

Description:

Provides for strict liability for injuries caused by the release of genetically engineered organisms from plant sources.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1036

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO GENETIC ENGINEERING.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the economic health of Hawaii's agricultural sector is critical to the overall health of Hawaii's economy, and that this depends in major part on the high reputation of Hawaii's farmers and their agricultural products.

Growth in genetically engineered agricultural production has been swift and pervasive throughout the nation. The quick acceptance of the new technology by American farmers may, however, pose serious consequences for conventional agriculture -- consequences that scientists do not yet fully understand. Those consequences have created doubt about the wisdom of growing genetically engineered agricultural products, both within the farming community and Congress.

The greatest potential harm of genetically engineered crops is that the use of genetically engineered seeds and plants by a farmer could, unintentionally, alter the crops being produced by a neighboring farmer, or alter other plants or animals, including insects and microorganisms which interact with domestic crops, as well as plants and animals within the natural environment.

No practical way of safeguarding against this risk is available, other than abstaining from use of genetically engineered material. The recent fiasco involving Starlink corn, a variety approved only for animal consumption because of its possible allergenic effects on humans, attests to this. Farmers who unwittingly planted the corn have had to accept prices for their crops well below production costs. Grain elevators have had to test their inventories and attempt to segregate millions of bushels of contaminated stocks. Foreign markets have refused to accept shipments of United States corn. The European Commission is drafting regulations that include mandatory segregation and labeling of genetically engineered crops. Two of the top three grocery chains in the United Kingdom have announced that they will sell meat products from livestock fed feed only from conventional, non-genetically engineered crops. The American Crop Growers Association is concerned that these recent actions may also have a negative effect on U.S. exports. Europe has increasingly turned to Brazil, where the cultivation and sale of genetically engineered seeds are banned, to meet its need for animal feed.

The purpose of this Act is to provide for strict liability for injuries caused by genetically engineered products from plant sources.

SECTION 2. Chapter 142, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part IV to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§142-   Genetically engineered organisms; liability. (a) A biotech company shall be strictly liable to any party injured by the release of a genetically engineered organism into the environment if the injury results from that genetic engineering. The prevailing plaintiff in an action under this subsection may recover reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation expenses as part of the costs.

(b) For purposes of this section, liability shall attach even if a person who was injured used the organism in accordance with applicable federal and any other law.

(c) The liability referred to in subsection (a) may not be waived or otherwise avoided by contract.

(d) For purposes of this section:

(1) "Biotech company" means a person, partnership, corporation, or other entity engaged in the business of genetically engineering an organism, or obtaining the patent rights to these organisms for the purposes of commercial use of the organism.

(2) "Genetically engineered" means a life form or its living progeny that has been altered at the nucleic acid level, using the techniques collectively referred to as recombinant DNA technology. These techniques involve the transfer of genes, regulatory sequences, or nucleic acid between hosts by the use of vectors or laboratory manipulations and include, but are not limited to, the insertion, excision, duplication, inactivation, or relocation of specific genes, regulatory sequences, or sections of nucleic acid. This term does not apply to material or an organism developed exclusively through traditional methods of breeding, hybridization, or nondirected mutagenesis."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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