A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court challenging Hawaii County’s anti-GMO law.
A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court challenging Hawaii County’s anti-GMO law.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, seeks a ruling establishing the law as illegal and invalid.
Ten plaintiffs joined the lawsuit, including several Big Island agricultural associations, a horticulture company, four individual farmers, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
The lawsuit says the ban on open-air testing and most use of transgenic crops adopted last December conflicts with federal and state laws in addition to the science of biotechnology.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs include Margery Bronster, who is representing plaintiffs in another lawsuit challenging the law’s registration requirement. That lawsuit, filed in Hilo Circuit Court, is ongoing.
A temporary restraining order against the law’s registry of existing transgenic crops remains in effect.