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1080 Fast-Track an Attempt to Silence Opposition

Richard Prosser MP

Spokesperson for Outdoor Recreation
27 FEBRUARY 2017

1080 Fast-Track an Attempt to Silence Opposition

The National government announcement that responsibility for granting 1080 poison drop consents will switch from regional councils to a centralised agency, is an ill-disguised ploy intended to circumvent public and community concerns and input into the process, says New Zealand First.

“The shift takes local knowledge out of the equation and puts the safety of affected communities in the hands of poorly informed Wellington bureaucrats,” says Primary Industries and Outdoor Recreation Spokesperson Richard Prosser.

“New Zealand’s continued use of this Class-1 deadly eco-toxin is unjustifiable madness, and this new regulatory regime will make it even worse.

“How is the EPA going to enforce the manufacturer’s requirement that 1080 must not be used in on or near waterways? How will it enforce the requirement that poisoned carcasses be removed from waterways?

“Consent conditions, including preliminary and follow-up native and predator surveys, and adherence to drop location maps, are being breached right now. How will that improve when accountability is removed another step?

“How does the EPA intend to sign off medical health concerns when there is no antidote for 1080, no human toxicology data, no treatment, and not even a blood test available? Doctors and hospitals have no tools for dealing with human 1080 poisoning, and a rubber stamp from the government isn’t going to change that fact.

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“This is a transparently cynical change aimed solely at silencing the voice of public concern, by a National government hell-bent on following a discredited and dangerous pest control methodology.

“New Zealand First has long argued for the investment and science to find an acceptable alternative to this poison. The aerial laying costs well over $100 million every year. Some of that money should have gone into research and it simply hasn’t,” says Mr Prosser.

ENDS


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