THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	59
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

requesting the college of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center to refrain from developing, testing, propagating, cultivating, raising, or growing genetically modified traditional Hawaiian taro varieties in the State or conducting any type of research that would significantly impact traditional Hawaiian taro varieties.

     WHEREAS, kalo (colocasia esculenta), the Hawaiian word for taro, is a culturally significant plant to the kanaka maoli, Hawaii's indigenous peoples; and

     WHEREAS, kalo provides the kanaka maoli's life-giving sustenance, poi; and

     WHEREAS, over three hundred kalo varieties may have existed at the time of the arrival of European explorers and today there are approximately seventy varieties of taro and of these, the majority are unique to the Hawaiian islands due to the horticultural skills of native Hawaiian farmers; and

     WHEREAS, the important cultural relationship between kalo and the kanaka maoli continues today in the cultivation of kalo and ohana, the Hawaiian word for family; and

     WHEREAS, kalo expresses the spiritual and physical well-being of not only the kanaka maoli and their heritage, but also symbolizes the environmental, social, and cultural values important to the State; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center are requested to refrain from developing, testing, propagating, cultivating, raising, or growing genetically modified traditional Hawaiian taro varieties in the State or conducting any type of research that would significantly impact traditional Hawaiian taro varieties; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution does not include a request to refrain from developing, testing, propagating, cultivating, raising, or growing genetically modified taro of the non-Hawaiian variety, including Chinese taro, in the State; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Agriculture, the Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii, and the Director of the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Kalo; Genetically Modified Organisms