The Sustainable Hawaiian Agriculture for the Keiki and the Aina Movement, or SHAKA Movement, is appealing to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to force the federal District Court to hold an expedited evidentiary hearing that might lift an injunction preventing the implementation of the law while the legal challenge by the seed companies proceeds.

Since the passing of the historic ballot initiative in November, Monsanto Co. and Agrigentics Inc., a unit of Dow Chemical Co., filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the law, which calls for a moratorium on GMO crops until scientific studies are conducted to determine their safety and benefits.

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway initially agreed with the plaintiffs and the County of Maui to delay implementation of the law until March 31 to allow for a hearing on the case. Mollway later pushed the date back to June 15 to see if the state Legislature would pass laws that would impact the lawsuit and the anti-GMO ordinance. The Legislature adjourns Thursday.

SHAKA’s Alika Atay, Lorrin Pang, Mark Sheehan, Bonnie Marsh and Lei’ohu Ryder argue that the District Court abused its discretion when it agreed to continue the injunction into June. The District Court denied SHAKA’s request for an evidentiary hearing and limited its response to a 2,500-word brief that was due in three days. The nonprofit group contends that it was “unable to fully present its argument to the District Court as to why the injunction should not be continued.”

The two issues presented in SHAKA’s appeal filed Thursday examine whether the District Court violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and misapplied legal standards for continuing injunctions. The District Court found that “Monsanto and Dow’s economic harms decidedly outweighed the environmental, public health and other harms” that has resulted with the injunction, and that “the public interest justified the injunction notwithstanding the fact that Maui citizens (the public) voted in favor of the ordinance given the irreparable harm,” according to the filing.

“It’s been six months since the election, and the law sits there on the books ignored by the county,” Sheehan said Tuesday. “The industry – Monsanto and Dow – has done everything they can to prevent this law and spent $8 million to confuse voters. For a fraction of that, they could’ve done a study, but they know they can’t afford to lose this battle.

“Once people begin to realize the massive effect these companies are causing and how deadly those pesticides are, the game will be over for them.”

John Purcell, Monsanto Hawaii business and technology vice president, said in a statement that the company respects SHAKA’s right to appeal the injunction.

“However, we are confident our legal arguments are formidable and will prevail since they are based on established legal precedent,” Purcell said.

Michael Carroll, lead counsel for SHAKA, said he expects a decision from the 9th Circuit by mid June at the earliest. He said the group sought relief from the court because “there is no guarantee” the District Court will make a ruling on June 15.

“We are concerned each day the law is not in place,” Carroll said.

According to SHAKA’s appeal, Maui County is considered “ground zero” for testing and development of GMOs. The GMO industry uses the county as its testing field to develop new crops that it can market and profit from throughout the country and internationally.

“These companies use the land in Maui County in a more destructive way than commercial agricultural activities,” the filing said. “The practice involves the use of high levels and combinations of repeated pesticide application and use of a disproportionately small portion of the land, leaving large areas barren and more susceptible to causing environmental pollution.”

The group noted the World Health Organization’s recent decision to label an ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer – glyphosate – as “probably carcinogenic” based on existing research on the chemical’s exposure in people and lab animals. Monsanto officials have argued that the report does not include any new evidence and that previous studies have deemed glyphosate relatively safe, based on doses generally taken in by humans.

SHAKA said that the health risks associated with GMO practices have never been tested or evaluated on Maui.

“We want to know what’s wrong with doing a study,” Sheehan said.