Civil Rights Complaint: Pesticides Are Harming Native Hawaiians
Two local groups want the EPA to force state agriculture agencies to better regulate pesticide drift.
Two Hawaii community groups have filed a civil-rights complaint against the state and for not doing enough to protect Native Hawaiians from pesticides sprayed on fields near schools, hospitals and homes.
Earthjustice, representing and , sent the complaint Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency.
鈥淚f anyone began spraying toxic chemicals so that they drifted into homes and schools in one of Hawaii鈥檚 affluent neighborhoods, there would be outrage and it would be shut down,鈥 Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff said in a . 鈥淏ut not on Kauai鈥檚 west side or on Molokai, because the Native Hawaiians there don鈥檛 have the political clout. It鈥檚 shameful and it鈥檚 against the law.鈥
Earthjustice says the two state agencies receive federal funding, so they have an obligation under of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure their programs and activities do not discriminate against communities of color, including Native Hawaiians.
鈥淚 live in a community that is home to the largest population of pure blooded Native Hawaiian, native speakers in Hawaii, what many would consider an endangered race and a wealth of cultural knowledge,鈥 said Kekaha resident Malia Chun, member of the MOM group,聽in the release.
鈥淲e also happen to be a community that is inundated daily by exposure to industrial use pesticides,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hen you consider the danger of frequent, long-term exposure to industrial pesticides, some may consider this to be a form of genocide.鈥
Scott Enright, head of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, didn’t return a call for comment on Wednesday.
Read the complaint below.
