Humboldt County residents voted to join their Emerald Triangle neighbors by enacting a ban against the growth and production of genetically modified organisms, and the county is now tasked with rolling out enforcement of the new ordinance.

Unofficial November election results show the Genetic Contamination Prevention Ordinance was handily favored with 59 percent of the vote, and it will go into effect after the results are certified by the Board of Supervisors, said Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner Jeff Dolf.

The board plans to announce the results Dec. 2, and planting new GMOs in Humboldt County will be illegal on Dec. 12, Dolf said.

From there, it will be Dolf’s task to develop an enforcement plan for the new law, as the ordinance language tasks the agricultural commissioner’s office with making sure farmers adhere to the new policies.

“Whatever program we have in place has to follow what was passed by the voters,” Dolf said. “That is what I will be putting together.”

The ordinance will set out the enforcement strategy for nuisance abatement, and the commissioner will respond to potential complaints, but Dolf said he did not want to share details of the plan at this time.

The process is expected to take until late January or early February.

“I’m working on going through the language,” Dolf said. “The opponents raised some questions about the definition of genetically modified organisms in the ordinance language.”

Dolf said he has spoken with the University of California farm adviser and has the opportunity to speak with plant geneticists on the UC staff should he need guidance regarding interpretation of the language of the ordinance.

“One issue that I wanted to have information about was the issue of vaccines and whether or not vaccines would be prohibited under the ordinance,” he said.

Opponents of Measure P had argued that vaccinating animals could fall under the category of GMO, as defined in the ordinance.

Because there are state laws that require pets and livestock to have some vaccines, such as dogs being required to be vaccinated against rabies, Dolf said the state law would supercede the county’s even if the ordinance language did ban vaccines.

Details of the enforcement strategy must be fine-tuned, but Dolf said he will just enforce what the ordinance laid out.

“The county is really held to the language that was passed by the voters, this is a democratic process,” he said.

The plan will be in place by the beginning of the next growing season, Dolf said.

“Under the ordinance, it would not allow any new crops to be planted after the Dec. 12 date,” he said. “As long as the GMO crops are currently under cultivation, they can be maintained until January 2016.”

Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell said the county is still learning what the potential costs of enforcement might be, adding a source of revenue would have to be identified. At this time, it is unknown where that money would come from.

Fennell said she does not anticipate a need for enforcement, noting that no reports have been substantiated in neighboring counties where GMOs have been banned for a decade.

“Our sister counties have not been challenged,” she said. “Now our ordinance is a little bit further reaching, so there may be some challenge of what the definition of GMO is in Humboldt County.”

Fennell said she understands the concerns of farmers on both sides of the issue.

“The people spoke,” she said. “There is a lot of support for this kind of an ordinance in Humboldt County, so bottom line is we need to move forward and make sure that what the voters asked for does in fact come into place.”

The ordinance’s passage is a preventative measure for Humboldt County, said Bill Schaser, spokesman for the Committee for a GMO Free Humboldt.

“I think that nothing is really going to change. I think we are just going to be moving forward,” he said. “I just think that, economically, this will be a boost if people choose to go that way.”

Silage corn is the main GMO crop grown in Humboldt County, and with tests showing that there are 15 varieties of hybrid corn that grow successfully in the region, Schaser said he doubts that there will be any need for enforcement.

Mark Wilson, a Humboldt State University biology professor who advocated against Measure P because of what he considered to be convoluted wording and a lack of purpose, agreed that little enforcement would likely be needed.

“As long as nobody has to enforce it, then it won’t be problematic,” he said. “Presumably, farmers aren’t going to want to buck it so they will go along with the intent of it.”

Prior to the election, Wilson had voiced concerns that the ordinance would not ban all GMOs and would ban some other techniques that were not typically considered GMO.

“My concern with the wording is that there is the potential for abuse there,” he said. “I don’t think there is any motivation for anyone to try to push with the problem with the wording, given that the intent was clear.”

Wilson, who teaches genetics at HSU, said that there are a lot of misconceptions about genetic engineering.

“My main issue is that people have these fears of GMOs, and these fears don’t seem to be grounded in any kind of evidence,” he said.

Contact Juniper Rose at 441-0506.