4 July 2008
ERMA's madness endangers NZ beef exports and our health
It is madness that the Environmental Risk Management Authority is risking New Zealand's meat and dairy exports by
continuing to allow the use of a highly toxic insecticide which is banned or heavily restricted in more than 50
countries, the Green Party says.
Endosulfan, an environmentally persistent chemical linked to breast cancer, has turned up for a second time in New
Zealand beef exports to South Korea, our second largest beef market.
This incident comes just one week after ERMA recommended the continued use of endosulfan on fodder crops seedlings as
well as on sport fields, parks, and bowling greens around New Zealand.
"It's time for the Government to step in and ban this insecticide in the interests of our valuable export markets and
also in the interests of all New Zealanders, whose own health is put at risk through continued use of this toxic
chemical," Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.
"It is particularly concerning that endosulfan residue has been discovered in South Korea, a country which has been
rioting for the past months about potentially contaminated meat from the United States.
"It would devastate our economy if the same scale of protests occurred over our own exports.
"How can we maintain the façade of being clean and green when our exports are being repeatedly rejected because they
have residues of one of the most toxic insecticides in the world?" Ms Kedgley asks.
"Endosulfan has been linked to breast cancer, birth defects, behavioural conditions and Parkinson's disease. It affects
the central nervous system, and long term exposure has also been shown to affect the kidneys, liver and reproductive
systems.
"In New Zealand, it is widely used on vegetables and berry fruit, on citrus and on sports grounds to control earth
worms. In a recent survey, residues of endosulfan were found in 50 percent of New Zealand tomatoes.
"The Green Party reiterates its call for the Minister for the Environment to override EMRA's decision and immediately
ban this dangerous chemical."
ends