Our Mosquito Case is Now in Hawai‘i’s State Supreme Court
Mahalo to everyone for your support as we continue standing up for the voice of the community to stop these reckless mosquito experiments
This week, Hawai‘i Unites filed our Application for Writ of Certiorari in the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i. Flawed decisions in the First Circuit Court and the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) have further undermined public trust in Hawai‘i’s decision-making process and have weakened environmental laws put in place to protect the health of our islands’ ecosystems, wildlife, and people. In our ongoing efforts to protect the ‘āina from these reckless mosquito experiments, we are now seeking a ruling from the State Supreme Court that our environmental court case filed in 2023 be remanded back to the circuit court and go to trial.
Hawai‘i Unites’ case to stop the release of millions of experimental Wolbachia-bacteria-infected mosquitoes on Maui and require an environmental impact statement (EIS) with comprehensive studies of the risks and potential significant impacts of the project is now in the hands of “the State’s court of last resort.” We are asking the Supreme Court to review our case, vacate the ICA’s order and judgment on appeal, reverse the First Circuit Court’s grant of summary judgment to the State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and their Board (BLNR), and remand our case back to the circuit court for further proceedings.
These mosquito releases are an experiment that can irreversibly damage the fragile ecosystems of East Maui and could impact our community’s health. The southern house mosquito is a species that has never been documented as used in a Wolbachia stand-alone field release anywhere in the world prior to being deployed on Maui. The East Maui project area is the largest Wolbachia mosquito release of any kind globally to date, and mass release of these lab-altered invasive insects is planned to continue every week in the 64,666-acre project area for at least 20 years. Our island home is being used as testing grounds for a novel biotech product whose safety and efficacy are unknown.
Agency partners involved in this travesty present these imported mosquitoes as a “conservation” effort to suppress wild mosquitoes that transmit avian malaria to forest birds. This project may actually harm the birds these agencies claim to be protecting. Serious concerns we’ve brought forth have not been sufficiently addressed, including accidental release of female mosquitoes that bite, breed, and spread disease; peer-reviewed studies showing Wolbachia bacteria can cause increased pathogen infection and disease-spreading capability in mosquitoes; horizontal transmission of Wolbachia bacteria to wild mosquitoes and other insect vectors of disease; population replacement of wild mosquitoes with lab-altered mosquitoes; wind drift of lab-infected mosquitoes to unintended areas; lack of documented biosecurity protocols and pathogen screenings for the imported mosquitoes; and risks to the health of people and animals, including the potential for this experiment to cause the extinction of the native honeycreeper birds that are the entire focus of the multi-agency mosquito release narrative.
A very damaging precedent is being set by the circuit court and ICA allowing these agencies to get away with a lower standard of review for a massive project like this that may have irreversible consequences for our environment. The lack of study of the potential significant impacts of these mosquito releases by the agencies involved is dangerous and irresponsible.
Hawai‘i Unites will continue to research and document the truth about this multimillion-dollar lab-altered mosquito agenda. We’ll know more about our State Supreme Court case in the weeks ahead. We’re very grateful to our legal team for their excellent work, and we’re hopeful that we will see a positive outcome.
Mahalo to everyone for all of your support and encouragement. We are continuing to raise funds towards our legal fees. Your tax-deductible donations help us move forward with the work that we’re doing to protect the ‘āina.
Aloha,
Tina Lia
Founder
Hawai‘i Unites
HawaiiUnites.org
Hawai‘i Unites is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of our environment and natural resources. Your tax-deductible donations help us to fulfill our mission of honoring and protecting our sacred connection to the natural world.
Report a Mosquito Bite
The State of Hawai‘i and its multi-agency partnership Birds, Not Mosquitoes have been releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes in East Maui and conducting pilot study releases on Kaua‘i since 2023. As part of our ongoing research and documentation, Hawai‘i Unites has been compiling reports from throughout the islands about unusual mosquito bite reactions. If you’ve been bitten by a mosquito and would like to report the incident, please complete our Mosquito Bite Incident Report.