HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

138

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging the president and THE congress OF THE UNITED STATES to diversify seed production and enact legislation to limit patents on GENETICALLY modified PLANTs.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, three companies, Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta, control nearly half of the global seed market; and

 

     WHEREAS, estimates suggest that Monsanto has a ninety-eight per cent market share of the soybean market and a seventy-nine per cent market share of the corn market in the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, seventy per cent of all food in the United States contains genetically engineered food; and

 

     WHEREAS, the lack of competition among seed companies has decreased farmers' choices and has allowed the seed companies to raise seeds prices, causing an increase in food production costs and food prices for consumers; and

 

     WHEREAS, Monsanto has vigorously attempted to prevent farmers from using the offspring of its seeds in subsequent growing seasons; and

 

     WHEREAS, Monsanto is the co-owner of the Terminator Gene patent that prevents seeds produced by plants modified with the Terminator Gene from germinating if they are planted; and

 

WHEREAS, plants grown from genetically modified seeds have less genetic diversity and are more susceptible to drought, fungus, insects, and competition from other vegetation; and 

 

     WHEREAS, a global disaster following widespread use of Terminator Gene seeds and other types of non-diverse genetically modified seeds could potentially wipe-out all plant food on the planet in a single season; and

 

     WHEREAS, diversification of the seed industry will create competition, help to lower seed prices, reduce predatory genetic modification, and create biodiversity; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that the President and the Congress of the United States are urged to break up the seed oligopoly and force competition in the seed industry; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Congress is urged to limit patents for genetically modified organisms including allowing famers to use seeds and offspring of seeds over many seasons without additional payments to seed suppliers; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate; Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Seed; Farmer; Monsanto; Monopoly; Genetically Modified Organism