Honolulu Community Leaders Testify on Toxic Herbicides in Kapiolani Park

On September 5, 2014 concerned Honolulu community leaders met with Kapiolani park officials for the second time to try to persuade them to stop spraying highly toxic glyphosate containing herbicide chemicals such as Monsanto’s RoundUp and Honcho in Kapiolani park, Hawaii’s largest and oldest public park.

The meeting started at 3pm and took place at the beautiful Paki Hale where Honolulu community leaders spoke out against the use of harmful herbicides in Kapiolani Park. Some of their valuable and informative testimonies were recorded and are available in the videos throughout this article.

Paki Hale at Kapiolani Park | Organic Hawaii

Paki Hale at Kapiolani Park | Organic Hawaii

Among them were doctors, journalists, farmers, gardeners, concerned park users, environmentalists, artists, musicians, and even the director of the Diamond Head Community Garden Association.

She correctly pointed out the fact that it’s illegal to use these and any other harmful non-organic chemicals in all Honolulu Community Garden locations and that Kapiolani park should be no exception. Especially due to the fact that Kapiolani Park is right next to the Diamond Head Community Garden and both the park and the garden are under the management of the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation.

Supporting the ban on harmful chemicals in Kapiolani Park is a no-brainer decision to a health conscious, moral person. Ultimately, we must pass ordinances and laws that would ban the use of toxic chemicals in all Hawaii public parks across all islands. 

🙂 ACTION ALERT: “STOP POISONING KAPIOLANI PARK!” 🙂

Similar actions, ordinances, and laws have already been passed in other U.S. mainland states such as California, Oregon, and Washington where the use of these toxic herbicide chemicals is prohibited in public parks to protect public health as early as 2001 in Seattle, Washington!

Doesn’t Hawaii and it’s people deserve at least the same kind of protection from controversial and infamous chemicals that have been linked to birth defects, autism, cancer, DNA and cell damage, neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s, etc.?

We hope that Kapiolani park officials, the heads of City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Urban Forestry, as well as Hawaii’s political leaders agree that the people of Hawaii deserve to enjoy chemical-free public parks today!