By Sheryn Clothier Editor "TreeCropper" the NZTCA national magazine.
I recently viewed Poisoning Paradise, an anti-1080 documentary by Steve and Clyde Graf. These brothers obviously know and love our bush, and had some superb footage: of stags called up to the camera; of kiwis hunting in daylight; of wekas eating 1080; of koura (fresh water crayfish) fighting over 1080 carrots; of tomtits pecking at full-size 1080 bait; of cattle and dogs and horses slowly dying horrific and cruel deaths; of hundreds of birds, deer, sheep and pig carcasses, not resting in peace, but contorted into an ugly and obviously painful death spasm.
Forest and Bird support 1080, claiming it is a "humane way to kill" and "causes herbivores to die quietly from heart failure". There is absolutely no possible way you could buy that line after seeing this footage. That we can cause uproars over Crafar Farms and SPCA examples of animal cruelty, but condone this at governmental level, over and over again, in our beautiful bush, is incredible.
DOC dismissed the documentary as emotive - they were right, it is.
But even if we could dismiss the humane issues as a necessary evil (and no animal is that evil) - where is the justification?
Asking DOC gets a pre-programmed mantra: "Aerial 1080 drops are the only economical way to control possums, and possums must be controlled because they are a major cause of Tb – which could affect our export markets."
Hunters and trappers say they can achieve a cleaner, greener, more humane, and semi-profitable control by trapping and selling the meat and fur. 1080 proponents say ground control doesn't work, only easily accessible areas are targeted and trappers move on to more profitable areas once a certain level is reached - effectively 'farming' possums.
Anti-1080s disagree; they say ground control can achieve a higher kill rate and,
besides, the land next to stock is easily-accessible. They say bounty systems have worked before, and can work again.
NPCA (National Possum Control Agencies) advises that $80 million is spent each year on possum control. In 10 years we have reduced our estimated possum population from 70 million to a 'best informed estimate' (no one really knows) of 50 million possums.
That's $40 a possum.
That's a lot of taxpayers' money. That's a lot of subsidy for a new industry. That is some bounty.
[continued next column - click the bar below]
Possum processors say their 100-ton Japanese orders of possum meat vanished into thin air when they were unable to guarantee 1080-free product. Maybe it is not just about anti-1080, maybe it is also about wasting tax-payers' money, creating new jobs and supporting a sustainable, environmentally-friendly, clean-green industry that could eventuate in self-sustaining possum control?
Land Care Research themselves admit that "...Tb is not widespread in possums and is often difficult to find. On a broad scale, prevalence of infection is usually less than 2%."
And even at that small level, Anti-1080s ask for the evidence that infected possums actually do re-infect bovines. And ask what is going to happen to our export beef market when it is realised 1080-contaminated cows can, and probably have been, processed into beef? That 1080-contaminated milk is mixed into the national vat?
Studies on the effects of 1080 seem to be amazingly absent. What happens to the eels that eat the poisoned carcasses? The trout that eat the poisoned koura? The hunter's pregnant wife who eats the contaminated pheasant (or pig or deer)? What happens to our invertebrate, bacteria and fungi? What is the long-lasting effect on biodiversity after such a massacre of our bird life? How does it affect humans drinking contaminated water?
Not only are the ramifications not known, the basic recommendations from the 1080 manufacturer are not even followed. We are endangering our very valuable clean green image, stifling a new industry and potential jobs, and poisoning our very precious paradise.
And I can't understand one single real reason why.
I was somewhat anti-1080 before, having heard what it had done to family dogs, and noticing myself its lethal effect on birds, and felt DOC were very heavy-handed and undemocratic whenever approached about it. But as a tree cropper, I have no love for our furry Aussie pests and am the first out with the .22.
But I do have an almost worshipful, protective respect for our endemic bush, and consider the mass genocide of 1080 a pointless, inhumane sacrilege. After watching Poisoning Paradise and researching this editorial, I am now definitely in the anti-1080 camp.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Threatened Legal Action
A Tuatapere landowner has threatened legal action if the Department of Conservation flies over his property to drop 1080.
Graeme Muldrew told an Environment Southland resource consent hearing yesterday he was staunchly opposed to the aerial drop.
In a written submission, Mr Muldrew says: "I will consider legal action if my section is affected by this action and in particular my health and children."
Mr Muldrew yesterday said he planned to issue a trespass notice to DOC if it was successful with its application and if his section was in their "flight plan".
The move was backed by the property's co-owner Stephen Gamble, he said.
Mr Muldrew said while unsure if his property would be in the flight-planned route, his land was still likely to be affected regardless of where the poison was dropped.
A DVD titled Poisoning Paradise, which he played as part of his submission, showed the effect of 1080 on animals. It also showed the impact the poison had on plant and water life, Mr Muldrew said.
DOC has applied for resource consent to drop cereal bait over 25,000ha of Fiordland's Waitutu Forest.The application has drawn widespread disapproval, with 50 of 58 submissions on the application opposing the move. Four submissions supported the move and four were neutral.
The consent hearing began on Monday and finished yesterday, with committee members to meet next week to deliberate. A decision is expected early next year.
During his oral submission Mr Muldrew called on DOC to consider using ground control rather than an aerial drop.
He was one of six submittors opposing DOC's plan at the hearing yesterday.
Other submittors told the council the aerial drop would result in the unnecessary slaughter of non-target species, cause loss to commercial and recreational users, and have a long-term impact on the area's coastal and marine environments.
On Monday, DOC representative Dave Carlton told the consents committee the benefits of possum control using the poison outweighed the costs and risks if proper controls were in place.
Southland Times. 2/12/09
Graeme Muldrew told an Environment Southland resource consent hearing yesterday he was staunchly opposed to the aerial drop.
In a written submission, Mr Muldrew says: "I will consider legal action if my section is affected by this action and in particular my health and children."
Mr Muldrew yesterday said he planned to issue a trespass notice to DOC if it was successful with its application and if his section was in their "flight plan".
The move was backed by the property's co-owner Stephen Gamble, he said.
Mr Muldrew said while unsure if his property would be in the flight-planned route, his land was still likely to be affected regardless of where the poison was dropped.
A DVD titled Poisoning Paradise, which he played as part of his submission, showed the effect of 1080 on animals. It also showed the impact the poison had on plant and water life, Mr Muldrew said.
DOC has applied for resource consent to drop cereal bait over 25,000ha of Fiordland's Waitutu Forest.The application has drawn widespread disapproval, with 50 of 58 submissions on the application opposing the move. Four submissions supported the move and four were neutral.
The consent hearing began on Monday and finished yesterday, with committee members to meet next week to deliberate. A decision is expected early next year.
During his oral submission Mr Muldrew called on DOC to consider using ground control rather than an aerial drop.
He was one of six submittors opposing DOC's plan at the hearing yesterday.
Other submittors told the council the aerial drop would result in the unnecessary slaughter of non-target species, cause loss to commercial and recreational users, and have a long-term impact on the area's coastal and marine environments.
On Monday, DOC representative Dave Carlton told the consents committee the benefits of possum control using the poison outweighed the costs and risks if proper controls were in place.
Southland Times. 2/12/09
Sunday, November 29, 2009
DoC say 1080 relativity save.
1080 IS NOT SAVE..
In fact, 1080 is one of the most deadly poisons known to man - it has no taste, no smell, and no antidote!
One teaspoon of pure 1080 - the amount that is usually applied per hectare, in New Zealand (equates to about 3KG of bait) - is enough to kill 600 endemic Weka, 1200 possums, or 2500 dogs per hectare! (There is usually about 0 - 3 possums per hectare).
In fact, 1080 is one of the most deadly poisons known to man - it has no taste, no smell, and no antidote!
One teaspoon of pure 1080 - the amount that is usually applied per hectare, in New Zealand (equates to about 3KG of bait) - is enough to kill 600 endemic Weka, 1200 possums, or 2500 dogs per hectare! (There is usually about 0 - 3 possums per hectare).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Coroners documented proof of mans death by 1080 poisoning.
The family of a Mataura possum hunter who died from 1080 poisoning 43 years ago want his death publicly acknowledged by the Department of Conservation and Animal Health Board.
Both agencies say no-one has died of accidental 1080 poisoning in New Zealand.
But Ian Buchanan's widow, 69-year-old Elva Wicks, of Invercargill, said that was not true.
Wicks was 25 years old and the mother of three young children when her first husband, Ian Buchanan, died a "ghastly death" in Dunedin Hospital in 1966.
Coroner J Murray found Buchanan died from "central nervous system depression accompanied by respiratory and cardiac failure due to 1080 poisoning".
The poison was found by investigators in a tin of jam kept in a back porch cupboard, but it was never discovered how the poison came to be in the jam, or how Buchanan consumed the 1080.
"If DOC and the AHB say they haven't heard anything about Ian's death it's because they don't want to hear," Wicks said.
"It is documented on his death certificate – how can they deny it?"
AHB spokeswoman Anne McLean said the manner of Buchanan's death was unclear.
DOC spokesman Rory Newsam said the department was unaware of Buchanan's death until alerted by the media this week.
Source Stuff News.
Both agencies say no-one has died of accidental 1080 poisoning in New Zealand.
But Ian Buchanan's widow, 69-year-old Elva Wicks, of Invercargill, said that was not true.
Wicks was 25 years old and the mother of three young children when her first husband, Ian Buchanan, died a "ghastly death" in Dunedin Hospital in 1966.
Coroner J Murray found Buchanan died from "central nervous system depression accompanied by respiratory and cardiac failure due to 1080 poisoning".
The poison was found by investigators in a tin of jam kept in a back porch cupboard, but it was never discovered how the poison came to be in the jam, or how Buchanan consumed the 1080.
"If DOC and the AHB say they haven't heard anything about Ian's death it's because they don't want to hear," Wicks said.
"It is documented on his death certificate – how can they deny it?"
AHB spokeswoman Anne McLean said the manner of Buchanan's death was unclear.
DOC spokesman Rory Newsam said the department was unaware of Buchanan's death until alerted by the media this week.
Source Stuff News.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Another Scientist Steps In.
Helen H
17 Nov 2009 11:08a.m.
As a research scientist who has come to 100% pure NZ, I am disgusted and horrified by the complete lack of ignorance of DOC and the scientists it uses to promote 1080. They say that 1080 protestors should get their facts right, I suggest DOC do a little research themselves as there are hundreds of scientifically researched papers globally outlining the horrors of the super-toxin(1080) and its detrimental and catastrophic effects it has on the environment and all who live there. It astounds me that the people who are polluting clean, green NZ are proud of what they are doing and I can only believe it is because they are completly ignorant of the overwhelming facts against it or they are in the employment of the DOC paymasters. This is a toxin which you cannot smell, taste or see in water and takes up to 6 months to biodegrade in the environment. There is no antidote in the world for this poison and the way it kills is incredibly inhumane. It is rumoured that in NZ it has even been found in the milk of cows who have ingested small amounts and therefore has been passed into our food chain. What we don't know are the cumulative effects of a low dose of this toxin on a regular basis as no research has been done on this in NZ. Elseswhere in the world it has been proven that low doses on a regular basis affects male fertility and the unborn foetus. This happened after residents had their water supply contaminated by 1080. How many of us are aware of what is being leaked into our water supply on a daily basis in a country which still supplies unsterile drinking water to residents who have to boil it everyday to drink. They said "Agent Orange was safe", we know differently now!!
17 Nov 2009 11:08a.m.
As a research scientist who has come to 100% pure NZ, I am disgusted and horrified by the complete lack of ignorance of DOC and the scientists it uses to promote 1080. They say that 1080 protestors should get their facts right, I suggest DOC do a little research themselves as there are hundreds of scientifically researched papers globally outlining the horrors of the super-toxin(1080) and its detrimental and catastrophic effects it has on the environment and all who live there. It astounds me that the people who are polluting clean, green NZ are proud of what they are doing and I can only believe it is because they are completly ignorant of the overwhelming facts against it or they are in the employment of the DOC paymasters. This is a toxin which you cannot smell, taste or see in water and takes up to 6 months to biodegrade in the environment. There is no antidote in the world for this poison and the way it kills is incredibly inhumane. It is rumoured that in NZ it has even been found in the milk of cows who have ingested small amounts and therefore has been passed into our food chain. What we don't know are the cumulative effects of a low dose of this toxin on a regular basis as no research has been done on this in NZ. Elseswhere in the world it has been proven that low doses on a regular basis affects male fertility and the unborn foetus. This happened after residents had their water supply contaminated by 1080. How many of us are aware of what is being leaked into our water supply on a daily basis in a country which still supplies unsterile drinking water to residents who have to boil it everyday to drink. They said "Agent Orange was safe", we know differently now!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Reply to AHB & DoC.
Far from offering protection to our meat & dairy industries, one contaminated shipment of either to our overseas markets, would stop our exports over night and it is now not IF but WHEN – remember we are all down-stream or in the catchment of DOC or AHB poisons!
Our main source of new bovine tuberculosis is from stock movements & movement controls are an area which has show our biggest gains in recent years – it is time to adjust movement controls & tighten up the vulnerable areas – provide farmers with comprehensive, accurate information to deal with persistent & recurring infections on their farms – know that USA & Canada did this without slaughtering its wildlife & they achieved TB free status which they have held for years.
As to claims of biodegradable 1080 – under what circumstances & do these circumstances exist in NZ bush?
No they do not; temperatures of 20-30 degrees are required to degrade 1080 from water. This can take months to achieve – in the meantime there are all those dead carcasses available to our insects & birds that carry on killing and killing.
One of the compounds remaining after 1080 does breakdown is fluoro-hydrocarbon which is a green house gas – hardly the harmless “salt & vinegar”. It is time to stop defending the indefensible – no more aerial poison, re-think its ground use – ban 1080 altogether.
Our main source of new bovine tuberculosis is from stock movements & movement controls are an area which has show our biggest gains in recent years – it is time to adjust movement controls & tighten up the vulnerable areas – provide farmers with comprehensive, accurate information to deal with persistent & recurring infections on their farms – know that USA & Canada did this without slaughtering its wildlife & they achieved TB free status which they have held for years.
As to claims of biodegradable 1080 – under what circumstances & do these circumstances exist in NZ bush?
No they do not; temperatures of 20-30 degrees are required to degrade 1080 from water. This can take months to achieve – in the meantime there are all those dead carcasses available to our insects & birds that carry on killing and killing.
One of the compounds remaining after 1080 does breakdown is fluoro-hydrocarbon which is a green house gas – hardly the harmless “salt & vinegar”. It is time to stop defending the indefensible – no more aerial poison, re-think its ground use – ban 1080 altogether.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
1080 March in main centres..
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 5:09p.m.
By Bob McNeil TV3
Today is poisons day and campaigners have been marching in a number of centres, targeting the use of 1080 poison.
Campaigners want the poison banned, but the Animal Health Board and the Department of Conservation say that in certain circumstances it's the best way of controlling predators and disease-carrying possums.
Anti-1080 protestors marched in Auckland and 16 other centres around the country today.
They believe 1080 poison can be harmful to human beings and when it comes to killing animals, it doesn't discriminate between pests and other species.
Thomas Greve, of Poison Free NZ, says 1080 is poisonous to everything it touches.
“Most of us are greenies - health loving people - we love our animals and we're out there demanding this stop,” he says.
“It poisons everything, the soil, the insects, and of course non-targeted species, that's our concern - we're not sabotagers.”
William McCook of the AHB says the poison is not dangerous to people.
“Current methodology and technical knowledge ensures that 1080 doesn't pose any risk to human health, and it has in fact good net benefits to environmental factors - your bird life, your ecology,” he says.
The AHB says 1080 is important because it helps protect our premier markets for export products.
The poison-free campaigners say they want to work with Doc to help them get more funding for research because they believe there are better ways of controlling pests than dropping poisons on inaccessible land.
By Bob McNeil TV3
Today is poisons day and campaigners have been marching in a number of centres, targeting the use of 1080 poison.
Campaigners want the poison banned, but the Animal Health Board and the Department of Conservation say that in certain circumstances it's the best way of controlling predators and disease-carrying possums.
Anti-1080 protestors marched in Auckland and 16 other centres around the country today.
They believe 1080 poison can be harmful to human beings and when it comes to killing animals, it doesn't discriminate between pests and other species.
Thomas Greve, of Poison Free NZ, says 1080 is poisonous to everything it touches.
“Most of us are greenies - health loving people - we love our animals and we're out there demanding this stop,” he says.
“It poisons everything, the soil, the insects, and of course non-targeted species, that's our concern - we're not sabotagers.”
William McCook of the AHB says the poison is not dangerous to people.
“Current methodology and technical knowledge ensures that 1080 doesn't pose any risk to human health, and it has in fact good net benefits to environmental factors - your bird life, your ecology,” he says.
The AHB says 1080 is important because it helps protect our premier markets for export products.
The poison-free campaigners say they want to work with Doc to help them get more funding for research because they believe there are better ways of controlling pests than dropping poisons on inaccessible land.
Rusty Kane NPDC Deputation. Stop aerial drops of 1080 pioson.
New Plymouth District Council
Meeting Agenda
Council Meeting
Tuesday 3 November 2009
at 4.30 pm
Council Chamber
DEPUTATION
Rusty Kane - Support to Stop aerial drops of 1080 pioson.
Mr Rusty Kane spoke on the proposal to stop 1080 poison in the Egmont National park and asked the council to support the Taupo District Council in its call on the Government to stop aerial drops of 1080 poison to kill possums.
Meeting Agenda
Council Meeting
Tuesday 3 November 2009
at 4.30 pm
Council Chamber
DEPUTATION
Rusty Kane - Support to Stop aerial drops of 1080 pioson.
Mr Rusty Kane spoke on the proposal to stop 1080 poison in the Egmont National park and asked the council to support the Taupo District Council in its call on the Government to stop aerial drops of 1080 poison to kill possums.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Mayor asks Government to STOP 1080 DROPS.
Taupo District Council has called on the Government to stop aerial drops of 1080 poison used to kill possums, and to find a sustainable alternative.
"We need to stop the aerial bombardment by helicopters dumping 1080 indiscriminately over large tracts of land," said mayor Rick Cooper.
"This method is uncontrolled and the risk to the environment and our waterways is too great".
The move follows a similar call by a West Coast council.
Mr Cooper staged a "Great 1080 Debate" in Taupo in July, and asked police not to pursue a dying local protester, Chris Short, who mounted a brief vigil in August, 14 years after he hijacked a helicopter at gunpoint to highlight his fight against 1080.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Home/News/Display/tabid/209/articleID/123672/Default.aspx?src=email
Mr Cooper said the method of delivery caused him the most concern over culling with 1080.
"We understand 1080 will be used until the powers find and fund a more sustainable method of eradicating possums but aerial dropping must be stopped forthwith," he said.
The Taupo move was triggered by a request from the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board: councillor Gary Keepa claimed there was clear evidence of indiscriminate dropping of 1080 in the Turangi area.
The Taupo council's campaign against aerial drops of 1080 by regional councils, the Animal Health Board, and DOC will be coordinated by councillor Don Ormsby.
The chairman of the Wildlands BioDiversity Management Society conservation group, Graham Sperry of Reporoa, said the council's move could bring commonsense to the 1080 issue and an end to the ecological damage toxins were alleged to cause.
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) ruled in 2007 to allow the continued use of 1080 in aerial drops of poison baits because it is a "necessary evil" with no economic alternative for culling possums.
It said there was no practical alternative which could be applied from the air for effective control of possums in remote areas.
The quasi-judicial regulator did not reduce the maximum amount of the poison allowed to be dropped on each hectare, but ordered closer monitoring of aerial drops, and of communication and consultation with affected communities.
"We need to stop the aerial bombardment by helicopters dumping 1080 indiscriminately over large tracts of land," said mayor Rick Cooper.
"This method is uncontrolled and the risk to the environment and our waterways is too great".
The move follows a similar call by a West Coast council.
Mr Cooper staged a "Great 1080 Debate" in Taupo in July, and asked police not to pursue a dying local protester, Chris Short, who mounted a brief vigil in August, 14 years after he hijacked a helicopter at gunpoint to highlight his fight against 1080.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Home/News/Display/tabid/209/articleID/123672/Default.aspx?src=email
Mr Cooper said the method of delivery caused him the most concern over culling with 1080.
"We understand 1080 will be used until the powers find and fund a more sustainable method of eradicating possums but aerial dropping must be stopped forthwith," he said.
The Taupo move was triggered by a request from the Turangi-Tongariro Community Board: councillor Gary Keepa claimed there was clear evidence of indiscriminate dropping of 1080 in the Turangi area.
The Taupo council's campaign against aerial drops of 1080 by regional councils, the Animal Health Board, and DOC will be coordinated by councillor Don Ormsby.
The chairman of the Wildlands BioDiversity Management Society conservation group, Graham Sperry of Reporoa, said the council's move could bring commonsense to the 1080 issue and an end to the ecological damage toxins were alleged to cause.
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) ruled in 2007 to allow the continued use of 1080 in aerial drops of poison baits because it is a "necessary evil" with no economic alternative for culling possums.
It said there was no practical alternative which could be applied from the air for effective control of possums in remote areas.
The quasi-judicial regulator did not reduce the maximum amount of the poison allowed to be dropped on each hectare, but ordered closer monitoring of aerial drops, and of communication and consultation with affected communities.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Proof is in the Pudding.. And in the Pudding it is Poison.
The Proof is in the Pudding.. And in the Pudding it is Poison.
From the NZ Herald 27th September 2009.
The test results are in...
A Waiheke Island environmental group says several samples of marine life taken from the Hauraki Gulf have tested positive for the rat poisons brodifacoum and 1080.
Sarah Silverstar of Ocean Aware says the samples of marine birds, oysters and dog vomit, taken from Waiheke and Rangitoto Islands, were tested in an Auckland clinic by EAV machine and all were found to contain brodifacoum and, to a lesser degree, 1080.
A woman who had become mildly ill after eating local snapper the week before also tested positive for brodifacoum, said Silverstar.
The Department of Conservation dropped 147 tonnes of brodifacoum bait on Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands last month.
A spate of marine animals dying and dogs becoming ill after playing on Auckland beaches led many people to suspect brodifacoum was the culprit.
But DoC, in alliance with Auckland Regional Public Health, MAF Biosecurity, Auckland Regional Council and North Shore and Auckland City Councils, says independent scientists have carried out extensive testings and determined none of the deaths were caused by brodifacoum.
DoC spokeswoman Nicola Vallance said the department offered to have independent scientists test Silverstar's samples, but she declined and had them tested at a private clinic by EAV machine.
"We are very aware of people's concerns and have gone to great lengths to get testing done by New Zealand's leading scientists," said Vallance.
For more information
Sarah Silverstar
www.oceanaware.info
From the NZ Herald 27th September 2009.
The test results are in...
A Waiheke Island environmental group says several samples of marine life taken from the Hauraki Gulf have tested positive for the rat poisons brodifacoum and 1080.
Sarah Silverstar of Ocean Aware says the samples of marine birds, oysters and dog vomit, taken from Waiheke and Rangitoto Islands, were tested in an Auckland clinic by EAV machine and all were found to contain brodifacoum and, to a lesser degree, 1080.
A woman who had become mildly ill after eating local snapper the week before also tested positive for brodifacoum, said Silverstar.
The Department of Conservation dropped 147 tonnes of brodifacoum bait on Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands last month.
A spate of marine animals dying and dogs becoming ill after playing on Auckland beaches led many people to suspect brodifacoum was the culprit.
But DoC, in alliance with Auckland Regional Public Health, MAF Biosecurity, Auckland Regional Council and North Shore and Auckland City Councils, says independent scientists have carried out extensive testings and determined none of the deaths were caused by brodifacoum.
DoC spokeswoman Nicola Vallance said the department offered to have independent scientists test Silverstar's samples, but she declined and had them tested at a private clinic by EAV machine.
"We are very aware of people's concerns and have gone to great lengths to get testing done by New Zealand's leading scientists," said Vallance.
For more information
Sarah Silverstar
www.oceanaware.info
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Screening Hawera
A community screening of the Graf Boys Documentary,
“Poisoning Paradise”. Featuring in-depth analysis of
the effects 1080 Poison has on wildlife and other New
Zealanders.
Presented by Rusty Kane
(Warning not recommended for children,
some scenes may disturb)
Tuesday September 15th 7PM
Salvation Army Hall
23 Regent Street
Hawera
Entry Fee
Gold Coin Donation
“Poisoning Paradise”. Featuring in-depth analysis of
the effects 1080 Poison has on wildlife and other New
Zealanders.
Presented by Rusty Kane
(Warning not recommended for children,
some scenes may disturb)
Tuesday September 15th 7PM
Salvation Army Hall
23 Regent Street
Hawera
Entry Fee
Gold Coin Donation
Thursday, August 20, 2009
POISONING TARADISE
POISONING TARADISE
Presented by Shaun Biesiek and Rusty Kane
A free community screening of the Graf Boys Documentary,
“Poisoning Paradise”. Featuring in-depth analysis of
the effects 1080 Poison has on wildlife and other New
Zealanders.
(Warning not recommended for children,
some scenes may disturb)
MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 7PM
LIFE ADVANCE COMMUNITY HALL
150 NGAMOTU ROAD
NEW PLYMOUTH
All Welcome
Presented by Shaun Biesiek and Rusty Kane
A free community screening of the Graf Boys Documentary,
“Poisoning Paradise”. Featuring in-depth analysis of
the effects 1080 Poison has on wildlife and other New
Zealanders.
(Warning not recommended for children,
some scenes may disturb)
MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 7PM
LIFE ADVANCE COMMUNITY HALL
150 NGAMOTU ROAD
NEW PLYMOUTH
All Welcome
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Fraud of 1080
The Department of Conservation and the 1080 Fraud
About a year ago we learned that DoC was routinely and indiscriminately dropping food laced with tonnes of a universal poison, 1080 into our forest ecosystems. Ostensibly, this aerial poisoning of our forests is being done to control possums. DoC asserts that only possums and other so called “pests” are significantly poisoned. As scientists and life-long environmentalists, we were struck that this contention appears to violate the most fundamental ecological principles as well as common sense.
Is it plausible that one could drop food mixed with a poison that kills all animals into a semi-tropical ecosystem and only negatively affect possums and other “pests”? This question is particularly relevant now in light of the upcoming aerial 1080 drop into the Coromandel watershed.
In science, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We resolved to determine whether the extraordinary claims of DoC have the weight of extraordinary evidence behind them. The answer is unequivocal: they do not. After months of investigation, we found that 1080 research, almost entirely sponsored and controlled, by DoC sustained six conclusions, which given the large cost and risks of DoC’s aerial 1080 program we find truly astonishing.
First, there is not a single scientifically credible study showing that aerial 1080 when used on the mainland is of net benefit to any species of New Zealand’s native fauna, let alone has the general salvational effects claimed by DoC.
Second, there is overwhelming evidence from DoC’s own research that aerial 1080 is killing large numbers of native animals, including birds, insects and other invertebrates, and our only native mammal, the bat. Moreover most native species are entirely unstudied.
Third, there is not a single ecosystem level study showing lack of harm, let alone showing the overwhelming beneficial effects that DoC claims. In fact 1080 drops often increase stoat and rat populations.
Fourth, while it is probable that possums, if left unchecked, would over time do some damage to our forests, the degree of that damage is not known and whether that damage is being controlled with aerial 1080 without irreversible damage to the forest ecosystem is entirely unproven.
Fifth, DoC’s 1080 research is generally of poor scientific quality, is obviously biased as one would expect given the fact that the researchers owe their jobs to the goodwill of the DoC bureaucracy, and it does not actually show what DoC claims.
Sixth, in any case, it is clear from AHB research that there is a clear alternative: ground based baiting with species specific bait stations. In short there is absolutely nothing in the scientific record that would justify the following statement from DoC’s May 14 press release: “Without 1080, the price New Zealanders would have to pay in the loss of their unique species and habitats is too awful to contemplate.” To the contrary, DoC’s own science tells a depressingly grim story.
DoC habitually, publicly and aggressively misrepresents what its research shows. For example, DoC claims in its ERMA submission “that robin nesting success more than compensates for any robin losses from 1080”. This is absolutely false. The cited study showed increased nesting success in 1 of 3 years, but even that single success failed to translate into increased robin population success -- the bottom line. The study also showed that 54% of banded robins died in the 1080 poisoned area compared to none in the un-poisoned area.
DoC has claimed that Kereru populations are increased by aerial 1080 treatment, and yet the only study published on the subject was methodological nonsense, which proved nothing, but incidentally “showed” that Grey Warblers and Silvereye populations decreased in the 1080 treated area, an observation never mentioned by DoC’s otherwise highly efficient public opinion control machine.
DoC claims that the tomtit is not affected by aerial 1080 bait, and cites a study done by Westbrooke in 2005 to prove that. However, the published paper actually shows that substantial numbers of tomtits could be being killed even by low concentration cereal baits, and more important it shows that about 40% of tomtits died when exposed to low concentration carrot baits!!! Yet this is never mentioned by DoC. Carrot bait is still in widespread use by DoC.
DoC claims that bats are unaffected by aerial 1080. However, a competent 2002 study by Lloyd and McQueen showed that bats were clearly poisoned. The study gave a “best estimate” that 14% of bats would be killed in 14 foraging flights in a 1080-poisoned area.
There is even substantial evidence that DoC has suppressed critical research unfavourable to its aerial-1080 agenda. This research on invertebrates (insects, worms, spiders, etc.) is perhaps the most disturbing. In 1992, M Meads completed a study for DoC that showed approximately 50% mortality among forest invertebrates from a single aerial 1080 “treatment”. DoC refused to allow the resulting paper to be published. At the same time they commissioned a similar study which structurally had no chance of detecting the high mortality seen in the Meads study.
The resulting poorly designed and analyzed study remains the sole DoC-published evidence that its indiscriminate use of a poison which originally developed as an insecticide is not devastating our forest invertebrates. The implications of this are truly disturbing given that invertebrates are the backbone of forest ecosystems. In fact, DoC’s use of aerial 1080 over the intervening 15 years has probably already done irreversible damage to the diversity of our native invertebrates which DoC is mandated to protect.
New Zealand is unique in the world in its use of aerial 1080. No other country is doing anything remotely similar to this. New Zealand uses over 85% of the world’s supply of 1080, a poison that is toxic to all animals, that is banned or severely restricted in most countries, and that is classified “extremely hazardous” by the World Health Organization. In response to this, DoC asserts that New Zealand is in a unique ecological position, but this is simply not true.
For example, the State of Hawaii has an almost identical problem with feral mammals threatening native birds, and we learned from Miles Nakahara, Forest & Wildlife branch manager that Hawaii would not even consider such a practice. “You are pretty cavalier using a poison like that … you will destroy the forest … you will lose the very thing you are trying to save.”
In addition to the lethal damage that 1080 is doing to our fauna is the potential chronic risk to animals and humans of exposure to 1080 given the proximity of recent and planned drops near habitated areas such as ours. The acute lethal poisoning level for adult humans is some where between 30 and 200 mg. It would take eating the poison bait directly, eating a poisoned animal or an accident in a water catchment to achieve that level of toxicity. But what is not known is the effect of sublethal and chronic poisoning.
Since humans cannot be experimented upon, there are two potential avenues of approach regarding the risk to humans. First are animal experiments. The more similar the animal is to humans, the more compelling. In this case, it may not need to be that close since the mechanism of poisoning by 1080 is common to virtually all air breathing organisms. There are very few studies in which chronic and sublethal effects have been examined and they tend to be limited in scope and short term.
What research has been done indicates that 1080 in sublethal doses can cause infertility, hormonal dysfunction, and mutations in several vertebrate species (SA Weaver, 2006). The second approach is to examine theoretical arguments based on the modes of the poison’s action, the organs most affected and biological mechanisms of cellular disruption. Dr. Peter Scanlon’s submission to ERMA is the best review covering these issues of which we are aware.
In short, this state of affairs regarding potential chronic human toxicity is utterly deplorable. DoC has not seen fit to investigate the extent to which these may be affecting native species via chronic exposure even though its stated intention is to “treat” our forests with 1080 poisoning every two or three years into the indefinite future. At present, we can only speculate on the long term and chronic effects of these sublethal doses of 1080 on our native species AND ourselves.
Lacking evidence, to simply assume that there is no collateral damage and significant chronic effects is irresponsible in the extreme. DoC’s lack of concern and hubris matches that of the DDT story and the U.S. dropping of dioxin (agent orange) on Vietnam.
The question always arises: why are DoC and EW pushing this apparently insane practice. Many DoC employees seem to sincerely believe the company line that 1080 is a magic elixir for our forests. It is a kind of religion based in a perception that all feral species should be eliminated—absurd as that is when one says it out loud.
However, the more fundamental motivation appears to be money, budget maximization, the bureaucrat’s raison d’etre, some $80 million per year. It is easy enough to espouse this crusade against possums (and highly selected other feral species) when one gets everything from it: increased salary, perquisites, reputation, power, patronage, convenience, and ease of management. They can spend the money with whomever and in whatever way they wish. As such, aerial 1080 “pest” control is a bureaucratic motivator with irresistible force.
In summary, the scientific evidence indicates that we may be doing substantial, possibly irreversible, damage to our forest ecosystem by this inherently anti-environmental practice. We think it is time to stop, and it is time that DoC stop propagandizing us with infantile unsupported sound bites that pander to emotion. It is time to produce the extraordinary evidence to support this extraordinary practice. It is time that every New Zealander demand the truth from DoC and it is time to demand that the use of aerial 1080 be discontinued until the real effect of 1080 on us, our forest ecosystems and our environment is demonstrated to be beneficial by competent and independent scientific research.
Our forests, their inhabitants, our international reputation as an environmentally sane nation and perhaps our own long-term health are at stake.
Patricia Whiting-OKeefe, PhD (Chemistry), Quinn Whiting-OKeefe, BA (Chemistry, Math), MA (Math), MD, FACMI
(The completely referenced scientific report supporting the material in this article is available from the authors at pwok@alumni.caltech.edu.)
About a year ago we learned that DoC was routinely and indiscriminately dropping food laced with tonnes of a universal poison, 1080 into our forest ecosystems. Ostensibly, this aerial poisoning of our forests is being done to control possums. DoC asserts that only possums and other so called “pests” are significantly poisoned. As scientists and life-long environmentalists, we were struck that this contention appears to violate the most fundamental ecological principles as well as common sense.
Is it plausible that one could drop food mixed with a poison that kills all animals into a semi-tropical ecosystem and only negatively affect possums and other “pests”? This question is particularly relevant now in light of the upcoming aerial 1080 drop into the Coromandel watershed.
In science, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We resolved to determine whether the extraordinary claims of DoC have the weight of extraordinary evidence behind them. The answer is unequivocal: they do not. After months of investigation, we found that 1080 research, almost entirely sponsored and controlled, by DoC sustained six conclusions, which given the large cost and risks of DoC’s aerial 1080 program we find truly astonishing.
First, there is not a single scientifically credible study showing that aerial 1080 when used on the mainland is of net benefit to any species of New Zealand’s native fauna, let alone has the general salvational effects claimed by DoC.
Second, there is overwhelming evidence from DoC’s own research that aerial 1080 is killing large numbers of native animals, including birds, insects and other invertebrates, and our only native mammal, the bat. Moreover most native species are entirely unstudied.
Third, there is not a single ecosystem level study showing lack of harm, let alone showing the overwhelming beneficial effects that DoC claims. In fact 1080 drops often increase stoat and rat populations.
Fourth, while it is probable that possums, if left unchecked, would over time do some damage to our forests, the degree of that damage is not known and whether that damage is being controlled with aerial 1080 without irreversible damage to the forest ecosystem is entirely unproven.
Fifth, DoC’s 1080 research is generally of poor scientific quality, is obviously biased as one would expect given the fact that the researchers owe their jobs to the goodwill of the DoC bureaucracy, and it does not actually show what DoC claims.
Sixth, in any case, it is clear from AHB research that there is a clear alternative: ground based baiting with species specific bait stations. In short there is absolutely nothing in the scientific record that would justify the following statement from DoC’s May 14 press release: “Without 1080, the price New Zealanders would have to pay in the loss of their unique species and habitats is too awful to contemplate.” To the contrary, DoC’s own science tells a depressingly grim story.
DoC habitually, publicly and aggressively misrepresents what its research shows. For example, DoC claims in its ERMA submission “that robin nesting success more than compensates for any robin losses from 1080”. This is absolutely false. The cited study showed increased nesting success in 1 of 3 years, but even that single success failed to translate into increased robin population success -- the bottom line. The study also showed that 54% of banded robins died in the 1080 poisoned area compared to none in the un-poisoned area.
DoC has claimed that Kereru populations are increased by aerial 1080 treatment, and yet the only study published on the subject was methodological nonsense, which proved nothing, but incidentally “showed” that Grey Warblers and Silvereye populations decreased in the 1080 treated area, an observation never mentioned by DoC’s otherwise highly efficient public opinion control machine.
DoC claims that the tomtit is not affected by aerial 1080 bait, and cites a study done by Westbrooke in 2005 to prove that. However, the published paper actually shows that substantial numbers of tomtits could be being killed even by low concentration cereal baits, and more important it shows that about 40% of tomtits died when exposed to low concentration carrot baits!!! Yet this is never mentioned by DoC. Carrot bait is still in widespread use by DoC.
DoC claims that bats are unaffected by aerial 1080. However, a competent 2002 study by Lloyd and McQueen showed that bats were clearly poisoned. The study gave a “best estimate” that 14% of bats would be killed in 14 foraging flights in a 1080-poisoned area.
There is even substantial evidence that DoC has suppressed critical research unfavourable to its aerial-1080 agenda. This research on invertebrates (insects, worms, spiders, etc.) is perhaps the most disturbing. In 1992, M Meads completed a study for DoC that showed approximately 50% mortality among forest invertebrates from a single aerial 1080 “treatment”. DoC refused to allow the resulting paper to be published. At the same time they commissioned a similar study which structurally had no chance of detecting the high mortality seen in the Meads study.
The resulting poorly designed and analyzed study remains the sole DoC-published evidence that its indiscriminate use of a poison which originally developed as an insecticide is not devastating our forest invertebrates. The implications of this are truly disturbing given that invertebrates are the backbone of forest ecosystems. In fact, DoC’s use of aerial 1080 over the intervening 15 years has probably already done irreversible damage to the diversity of our native invertebrates which DoC is mandated to protect.
New Zealand is unique in the world in its use of aerial 1080. No other country is doing anything remotely similar to this. New Zealand uses over 85% of the world’s supply of 1080, a poison that is toxic to all animals, that is banned or severely restricted in most countries, and that is classified “extremely hazardous” by the World Health Organization. In response to this, DoC asserts that New Zealand is in a unique ecological position, but this is simply not true.
For example, the State of Hawaii has an almost identical problem with feral mammals threatening native birds, and we learned from Miles Nakahara, Forest & Wildlife branch manager that Hawaii would not even consider such a practice. “You are pretty cavalier using a poison like that … you will destroy the forest … you will lose the very thing you are trying to save.”
In addition to the lethal damage that 1080 is doing to our fauna is the potential chronic risk to animals and humans of exposure to 1080 given the proximity of recent and planned drops near habitated areas such as ours. The acute lethal poisoning level for adult humans is some where between 30 and 200 mg. It would take eating the poison bait directly, eating a poisoned animal or an accident in a water catchment to achieve that level of toxicity. But what is not known is the effect of sublethal and chronic poisoning.
Since humans cannot be experimented upon, there are two potential avenues of approach regarding the risk to humans. First are animal experiments. The more similar the animal is to humans, the more compelling. In this case, it may not need to be that close since the mechanism of poisoning by 1080 is common to virtually all air breathing organisms. There are very few studies in which chronic and sublethal effects have been examined and they tend to be limited in scope and short term.
What research has been done indicates that 1080 in sublethal doses can cause infertility, hormonal dysfunction, and mutations in several vertebrate species (SA Weaver, 2006). The second approach is to examine theoretical arguments based on the modes of the poison’s action, the organs most affected and biological mechanisms of cellular disruption. Dr. Peter Scanlon’s submission to ERMA is the best review covering these issues of which we are aware.
In short, this state of affairs regarding potential chronic human toxicity is utterly deplorable. DoC has not seen fit to investigate the extent to which these may be affecting native species via chronic exposure even though its stated intention is to “treat” our forests with 1080 poisoning every two or three years into the indefinite future. At present, we can only speculate on the long term and chronic effects of these sublethal doses of 1080 on our native species AND ourselves.
Lacking evidence, to simply assume that there is no collateral damage and significant chronic effects is irresponsible in the extreme. DoC’s lack of concern and hubris matches that of the DDT story and the U.S. dropping of dioxin (agent orange) on Vietnam.
The question always arises: why are DoC and EW pushing this apparently insane practice. Many DoC employees seem to sincerely believe the company line that 1080 is a magic elixir for our forests. It is a kind of religion based in a perception that all feral species should be eliminated—absurd as that is when one says it out loud.
However, the more fundamental motivation appears to be money, budget maximization, the bureaucrat’s raison d’etre, some $80 million per year. It is easy enough to espouse this crusade against possums (and highly selected other feral species) when one gets everything from it: increased salary, perquisites, reputation, power, patronage, convenience, and ease of management. They can spend the money with whomever and in whatever way they wish. As such, aerial 1080 “pest” control is a bureaucratic motivator with irresistible force.
In summary, the scientific evidence indicates that we may be doing substantial, possibly irreversible, damage to our forest ecosystem by this inherently anti-environmental practice. We think it is time to stop, and it is time that DoC stop propagandizing us with infantile unsupported sound bites that pander to emotion. It is time to produce the extraordinary evidence to support this extraordinary practice. It is time that every New Zealander demand the truth from DoC and it is time to demand that the use of aerial 1080 be discontinued until the real effect of 1080 on us, our forest ecosystems and our environment is demonstrated to be beneficial by competent and independent scientific research.
Our forests, their inhabitants, our international reputation as an environmentally sane nation and perhaps our own long-term health are at stake.
Patricia Whiting-OKeefe, PhD (Chemistry), Quinn Whiting-OKeefe, BA (Chemistry, Math), MA (Math), MD, FACMI
(The completely referenced scientific report supporting the material in this article is available from the authors at pwok@alumni.caltech.edu.)
Friday, August 14, 2009
DOC 1080 DROPS PROPAGANDA
There is no evidence 1080 is of net benefit to any native species...based on credible scientific research...only propaganda supports the aerial use of 1080 in New Zealand - let alone eco systems.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Beneath the Canopy all is Dead.
The true story of 1080 poisoning and why every New Zealand farmers livelihood is in jeopardy.
http://www.thegrafboys.org/
http://www.stop1080poison.com/
http://www.thegrafboys.org/
http://www.stop1080poison.com/
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