Gordon Copeland Press Release
For Immediate Release
Monday, 8th June 2008

Aerial 1080 drops must stop – Copeland

Independent MP Gordon Copeland today expressed his continuing dismay that massive areas of New Zealand are still being blitzed with aerial 1080 drops in spite of growing opposition from New Zealanders.

“I receive a continuous stream of emails and other communications from communities up and down New Zealand who remain deeply concerned about the aerial application of 1080 poison,” said Mr Copeland.

“Right now, for example, the community in Karamea on the West Coast is angry and frustrated at their inability to prevent a 1080 drop scheduled for this month and covering approximately 30,000 hectares of forest.”

“I share those frustrations. The Environment Risk Management Agency (ERMA), following an extensive reassessment of 1080 last year, concluded that its continued use in New Zealand is ‘a necessary evil’.”

“We could probably all agree that the aerial application of this deadly poison is an evil but, a growing number of New Zealanders now question whether it is, in fact, ‘necessary’.”

“As I have constantly pointed out, given the current world demand for possum felt and fur, the killing of possums by conventional means opens up a major commercial opportunity for New Zealand.”

“When you bring those realities together, it is clear that we need a change of policy that involves bringing to an end, for all time, the aerial application of 1080 poison.”

ENDS

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