Dr Alison Bleaney
Below are extracts from a media release from Dr Meriel Watts, NZ. If Australia wanted to, it too could take the same stance as NZ in protecting its population from breast cancer, immune dysfunction and brain damage in babies. To continue its use now here in Australia is unacceptable.

In Tasmania, to find 2,4-D and other very toxic chemicals in our raw drinking water as well as in our foods, with the continuation of aerial spraying of these toxic chemicals, is unacceptable.

If Tasmania wanted to, it could promote ‘clean and pesticide free’ food produce and give itself a marketing niche, the same way as it has done with its approach to GM crops just recently.

It is possible; it can be done.

Dr Alison Bleaney

0417 302 549

This is an historic move for New Zealand!

New Zealand has today banned endosulfan, effective on January 16th, the statutory 28 days after publication of a notice in the New Zealand Gazette on Thursday December 18th. That means that all import or use of endosulfan is illegal after January 16th. There will be a one year period to safely secure unused stocks; disposal or storage options not yet specified.

Action to get rid of the insecticide began back in the mid 1990s, when Dr Meriel Watts of PAN ANZ worked with Toxins Action Group and other community groups in Auckland to get the City Council to stop using endosulfan on sports fields because of the risk of breast cancer posed by the pesticide.
Endosulfan, already banned in 55 countries including all the European Union countries, is an insecticide used on a wide range of fruit and vegetables and also on sports turf in New Zealand.
Illegal residues have also been found twice in beef destined for South Korea, resulting in enormous costs for exporters.
“We are delighted that ERMA has overturned its earlier ‘proposed’ decision to keep using this pesticide” stated Dr Meriel Watts, Co-ordinator of the Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand. “It would have been deeply embarrassing for New Zealand to continue its use when the pesticide has entered the process for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.”
Endosulfan has triggered international action because of its toxicity, persistence in the environment and its ability to accumulate up the food chain. In October the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) agreed that endosulfan meets the screening criteria for a POP, and is now undertaking a rigorous assessment preparatory to listing it for a global ban, alongside DDT and its other persistent organochlorine relatives. Endosulfan has been found in body fat, breast milk, placental tissue and umbilical cord blood, largely as a result of residues in food. We would also welcome an urgent reassessment of other hazardous pesticides still used in New Zealand, notably the herbicide 2,4-D and the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos. These pesticides can have an effect on hormone function even at minute doses. Chlorpyrifos and 2,4-D have both have been linked to brain damage in young animals, embryos and foetuses.

“We found residues in both New Zealand and Australian tomatoes (earlier in 2008). The residue levels were not safe, despite being legal, and in some
cases were high enough to trigger the growth of breast cancer cells. Lets hope Australia now revisits its decision to keep using the insecticide, so that the tomatoes they send us in winter will also be free of endosulfan” said Dr Watts.

The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) “considered that the level of adverse effect to the environment, human health, the
relationship of Maori to the environment, and to New Zealand’s international relationships outweighed any positive effects associated with the availability of endosulfan in New Zealand”.

ERMA said they “wanted to stop use of endosulfan as quickly as possible”.