Diet survey questioned

Thursday, 21 June 2001 10:00

"If you don't go looking for a problem, you won't find one," said TEC Chemicals Campaigner, Mark Oakwood. "This survey is more like an exercise in looking the other way. While seeming to check for chemical residues in our food supplies, it hasn't gone nearly far enough. An independent and public investigation of the survey is urgently required"
 
"The survey conceals as much as it reveals. Human breast milk was omitted from the survey for the first time. A repetition of results from previous surveys for human milk showing an accumulation of banned chemicals, such as DDT, lindane and heptachlor (all detected in the last survey) would be highly embarrassing for the government and the agricultural sector. It is generally accepted that breast milk is the best food for infants, and we shouldn't have to tolerate contamination of this most critical source of nutrition."

"Another glaring shortcoming includes the failure to test for one single herbicide or wood preservative. These groups of chemicals include significant contaminants, such as the chlorophenoxy herbicides, some of which in the past have been contaminated with the highly toxic and persistent 2,3,7,8-TCDD form of dioxin, a known human carcinogen and hormone mimicking chemical. Other herbicides left off the survey include:

· the ground water contaminating triazine group;
· the highly toxic herbicide paraquat;
· the most widely used herbicide in Australia, glyphosate and;
· pentachlorophenol, a highly persistent and toxic timber preservative."
"It is all very well to assert that the levels are acceptable when considered individually, but the survey has not considered the impact of consuming many different chemicals each day in our food; all of which may be below acceptable levels, but collectively may cause negative health effects."

"By withholding the entire picture, the ATDS looks more like a marketing exercise aimed at reassuring potential export markets, rather than a genuine attempt to identify and deal with pesticide residue problems in our food supply."

"TEC calls for an independent review of the ATDS, with environment and consumer representation, to ensure that the next survey is a more accurate indication of the level of contamination of our food supply by agricultural chemicals. Australian consumers demand the right to know how clean (or otherwise) their food really is."