Green puts Tasmania’s most vulnerable people at risk of chemical contamination

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust today called on the Minister for Primary Industries and Water Bryan Green to stop holding up the introduction of the new and improved Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Regulations (which have been four years in preparation) and warned that the Minister’s inaction is putting the most vulnerable people in the community at risk as schools, childcare centres, hospitals and residences in rural areas remain largely unprotected from contamination by ground-based chemical spraying.

The TCT added that the current approach to managing agricultural chemicals is largely based on out-of-date codes of practice from 2000 (Aerial Spraying) and 2001 (Ground Spraying) that rely on voluntary industry compliance with virtually no possibility of prosecutions for contraventions. The state government initiated a review of Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals management in 2008 and there were public consultation processes in April 2008 and in May 2011.

On the 9 March 2012, Minister Green announced that the proposed new regulations – which failed to pass the Parliament at the end of 2011 when the Legislative Council threatened not to support them – would be withdrawn from Parliament. The Minister’s announcement failed to state when the new regulations would be re-introduced into Parliament or if they will be re-introduced.

“Minister Bryan Green has left the Tasmanian community totally in the dark about an issue that is vital for the environment, human health and agricultural industries,” said TCT Director Peter McGlone.

“We fear that Minister Green intends to ignore four years of work aimed at modernizing Tasmania’s arcane agricultural chemicals regime and will scrap the proposed new regulations in favour of retaining the current, largely voluntary, approach.

“It may shock many in the community to know that under the current approach a farmer applying pesticide from a large tractor-based boom sprayer is not required to notify a nearby school, childcare centre or hospital before spraying and there is virtually no possibility of prosecutions for contaminating these places.

“The new regulations would address this loop-hole and many others like it but Minister Green seems content to ignore such concerns.

“It appears that the Minister has caved into pressure from a small group of farmers.

“The Minister has ignored the balanced approached recommended by his department which was a compromise based on the range of views received during the public consultation processes in 2008 and 2011.

“The Minister is snubbing his nose at the people who participated in two open public consultation processes and instead has responded to lobbying from vested interests in back room meetings.

“The public submissions made in 2011 were evenly split with 50% wanting stronger controls and 50% who thought the proposed regulations were too strong.

“The proposed new regulations represented a compromise between the farming and environment and community concerns and any further compromise is unacceptable.

“The current draft regulations were weakened slightly in response to industry lobbying since they were released for public consultation last year and it is vital they are not weakened any further,” concluded Mr McGlone.

• The consequences of industrial food production systems

http://www.toxicvalleythemovie.com/html/trailer.htm

The consequences of industrial food production systems; there are victims.

The producer asked me to contribute to this film, telling the story of the demise of the Richmond River fishery.

The oysters are all but gone from the river, the pipis all vanished from the beaches, and the fish numbers well down. The flow of pesticides from horticultural industries like macadamias and sugar cane continue to impact the health of the river.

Combined with flood plain drainage, habitat loss, acid sulphate pollution, fertiliser pollution, sewage pollution and sediment pollution the river is dying. It can rejuvenate, if we help farmers to change their practices, and pay them to do so.

— Dr Matt Landos BVSc(HonsI)MACVS
Director, Future Fisheries Veterinary Service Pty Ltd
Honorary lecturer, associate researcher, University of Sydney