12 September 2007

Greens say poisons should not be put on playing fields

Green MP Sue Kedgley is calling on the Tauranga City Council to stop spraying Thiodan - whose active ingredient is the highly toxic chemical endosulfan - over sport fields used by children.

"Endosulfan is an acutely toxic pesticide that is banned in all countries of the European Union and in at least 21 other countries because of its human health effects and persistence in the environment. It should be banned in New Zealand as well," Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

"The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) will shortly be reassessing this chemical, and the Greens will be working to ensure this results in total ban in New Zealand. The European Union has recently nominated endosulfan to be included in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and subject to a global ban.

"Endosulfan is highly neurotoxic to all species and is also an endocrine disrupter. Just last week the Health Select Committee heard that endosulfan is implicated in breast cancer. It is also known to have caused many deaths, deformities and reproductive problems overseas. It is a global contaminant transported all over the world in the atmosphere and is found in soil, rivers, marine sediment, rain, snow, fog, in the bark of trees and even in grasses high in the Himalayas that have never been sprayed.

"It is reprehensible that New Zealand continues to contribute to this global pollution when so many other countries have stopped," Ms Kedgley says.

"It is also utterly irresponsible that a Council would use this on playing fields that are used by children, especially when there are alternatives. Auckland City has been successfully managing its sand-based sports fields without the use of endosulfan for a number of years - ever since local residents complained about its use - by the judicious use of acidic fertilisers and appropriate cultivational practices. There is absolutely no reason why Tauranga or any other City Council in the country cannot do the same."

ENDS

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