Toxic pesticide rain proven

Tuesday, 03 February 1998 10:00

The summary of results of the Gunnedah Pesticide in Raintank Survey 1997, carried out by the NSW Environment Protection Authority and the New England Public Health Unit, confirms long-held fears that there is widespread contamination of the Namoi Valley with mixtures of dangerous pesticides, Ms Jo Immig of the Total Environment Centre said today.
 
"The findings of the Survey indicate that pesticides can move up to 3.6km from their source of application and contaminate sensitive environments such as rivers, killing aquatic organisms and polluting people's water supplies, chemically trespassing on their properties and affecting their livelihoods," Jo Immig said.
 
"Considering the number of farms, in particular cotton farms, that intensively use pesticides on a regular basis, you'd have to conclude that an extensive geographical area is likely to be contaminated, not only in the Namoi Valley, but in other pesticide spraying regions as well. These findings are extremely concerning and raise many questions about the future of agricultural pesticides".
 
"Industry has been claiming for years that pesticides don't move off-target, that spray drift doesn't exist, yet the Survey clearly indicates, without a doubt, that pesticides are moving and causing significant damage. What further evidence does the Government require before it implements tighter regulatory controls over the use of these toxic chemicals?"
"The Government stance that the people of the Namoi Valley should feel "assured" that their health is not at risk from exposure to pesticide contamination found in 61% of the tanks surveyed, is naive in the extreme."
 
"People who live in those conditions will tell you that they not only drink and bathe in the contamination, they also breathe in the same pesticides and grow their food in polluted soil. This means that the "magic maximum residue limit" used by the EPA to determine if the population is at risk or not, is a meaningless measure," Ms Immig said.
 
"The pesticide load is what is important in determining risk, and rainwater tanks are just one source of that load. Scientific data accumulating all over the world raises serious concerns about long-term low-level exposures to pesticides and Government can no longer keep its head in the sand over the issue".
 
"Endosulfan, one of the commonly occurring pollutants found in the tanks and environment is regarded as a serious threat to the beef industry. Now that we know it moves around through spray drift and run-off it is only a matter of time before Australia has another major beef residue crisis".
 
"The Government will have to finally bite the bullet and act to protect the environment and people from further exposures to pesticides and must implement regulations to control aerial spraying immediately."

"Industry should pull its head in and concentrate on the task at hand and fully co-operate to ensure that pesticide trespass is eliminated from its operations," Ms Immig concluded.