Wake-up call on the environmental and human health harms of toxic agrichemicals

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The Soil & Health Association is welcoming last week’s “Knowing what’s out there” report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. The report criticises New Zealand’s lack of monitoring and regulation of environmental harm from chemicals.

Jodie Bruning, national councillor for the Soil & Health Association

“New Zealand lags behind other countries on monitoring and regulation of toxic agrichemicals, putting our health, environment and overseas trade agenda at risk,” says Soil & Health spokesperson Jodie Bruning.

“A more integrated framework, suggested by the report, will help the right hand know what the left hand is doing, this is currently not happening in New Zealand, when it comes to environmental chemicals.

“For example the Environmental Protection Agency, our government watchdog on these issues, had to make a public appeal last year for information on glyphosate use. Why do they need to resort to this?  Because they don’t monitor glyphosate’s use, availability, or impacts. There’s no feedback loop between the agencie and our territorial and local authorities.

“It’s been shown that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and its widespread use in New Zealand must be stopped. 

“Glyphosate is the tip of the iceberg. Our regulatory settings are useless if we are not informed about environmental pollution, and if regulator is not keeping an eye on what’s happening on the ground.

“The government needs to take this report seriously. This includes expediting a formal reassessment of glyphosate as a key next step in protecting New Zealanders and the natural environment from harm.”

ENDS

Notes

The PCE report is covered here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/462653/lack-of-mechanisms-to-govern-chemical-use-in-nz-commissioner

Green Party organics policy adds vital ingredient to national debate on the environment

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“It’s encouraging to see the Green Party reinforce their commitment to organic agriculture from their position in government,” says Jenny Lux, spokesperson for the Soil & Health Association, New Zealand’s largest organic membership organisation.

“We’d like to see all political parties exploring the opportunities regenerative organic agriculture offers in terms of environmental protection, healthy food, and resilient communities.

“We think the Green Party’s policy of creating a New Zealand sustainable food certification could finally help us meet our ‘100% Pure’ aspiration as a nation.

“However, a national accreditation would only work if it was based on measuring outcomes and met the standards for regenerative organic agriculture already recognised worldwide

“We also welcome the policy of capital investment and other support for growers wanting to transition to regenerative organic. The setup costs are often a major barrier to changing farming systems.

“Organics already earns export dollars at the same time as contributing to our Zero Carbon Act goals. Providing government funding for the organic industry and boosting funding for organic research and development is key to the future of this booming sector.

“At a time when people – consumers and growers alike – are increasingly concerned about health and environmental protection, it makes sense to be investing this way.”

Omissions on Emissions: Polluting chemicals left out of government’s freshwater policy

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30 October 2019

The Soil and Health Association and Physicians and Scientists for Global Responsibility claim that environmental chemicals and heavy metals have been left outside the scope of the freshwater policy process.

The claim is made in a hard-hitting paper in response to the Ministry for the Environment Action for healthy waterways discussion document. The two organisations have secured support from a wide range of NGOs and private organisations.

‘If National Environment Standards (NES) are to ensure freshwater is safe and healthy, then pollution from ongoing industrial, agricultural and urban diffuse chemical emissions must be monitored and controlled at a national level’ states Jodie Bruning, Soil and Health spokesperson. ‘Yet relevant experts in chemical toxicology, endocrinology and environmental chemistry do not appear to have been consulted and this is a major concern. ‘Recent studies show we have chemical mixtures in our rivers. Many of these chemicals are banned in Europe and the OECD has drawn attention to our degraded environment, and our threatened freshwater species. They state that diffuse pollution is an international problem. This problem is not going away – the UN has stated ‘Urgent action is needed to tackle chemical pollution as global production is set to double by 2030’’.

Photo: iStock/KiraVolkov

The groups contend it is unscientific to pretend that New Zealand’s pollution problem is limited to nutrients, sediment and bacteria, and that such a position only advantages polluting activities. The paper refers to substantial scientific literature showing that chemical mixtures, at levels considered by regulators to be unsafe, are increasingly shown to be harmful to human and environmental health. The paper recommends a suite of practical measures to adopt standards based on best international practice.

‘The OECD advises monitoring of diffuse chemicals to be the first step in understanding diffuse pollution.’ said Jodie Bruning. ‘The National Environment Standards can pivot to not only incorporate single attribute standards, but include tests that screen for multiple chemicals from one water sample, and ensure these tests are transparently published and accessible to civil society.’

‘Many national environmental limits for chemicals are already in place, but rely on older approvals. With chemical production doubling and knowledge on harm from hormone hacking exposures increasing, the NZ Environmental Protection Agency already struggles to regulate toxic chemicals adequately. New Zealand’s hazardous substances legislation is outdated, chemical reassessments are few and far between and they lean heavily on chemical industry data.’

‘We recommend Aotearoa New Zealand adopts European standards and guidelines to manage and control toxic chemicals and protect our freshwater and food as they are more advanced at protecting public and environmental health. Farmers can be supported in this transition which also includes corresponding benefits that mitigate greenhouse gases.

‘The reforms suggested in the paper are science-based and recommended at an international level. Our current freshwater processes cannot protect freshwater for food-gathering, nor can we assure visiting tourists that our rivers are safe and healthy, nor can we protect our water sources for irrigation and food production.

The National Environment Standards for freshwater are only part way through – civil society looks forward to the next iteration.’ said Ms Bruning.

For further information please see the below link:

www.psgr.org.nz/fw

Clean waterways

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New Zealand’s waterways are in a dire state with a staggering 60% of monitored rivers being unsafe for swimming and 74% of freshwater fish species are threatened. A big factor in this is nitrogen pollution from the increasing intensification of agriculture. Much of the nitrogen pollution comes from cattle urine diffusing through soils and pasture root zones, and from soluble synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, so while planting stream banks and fencing off streams is good, it cannot solve this issue on its own. Going organic is part of the solution to fixing polluted fresh waterways in New Zealand. Organic dairy farming does not use any soluble nitrogen fertilisers, has lower stock density, promotes greater biodiversity, has grass-fed cows, and feed supplements are free of GE ingredients and palm kernel.

Soil & Health Association believes that the bottom line for human health in fresh water bodies should be that they are safe for primary contact i.e. for swimming. Soil & Health believes that freshwater pollution is not merely about farmers breaching rules. What is required is government intervention to lift water quality standards and incentivise more sustainable and organic methods of farming.

Soil & Health supports:

Fencing off stock from waterways.

Riparian strips and buffer zones of vegetation.

Sustainable stock numbers.

Organic and biological farming methods that involve nitrogen fixing pasture species, and healthy      living soils with good moisture-holding capacity.

Mixed rotational farming.

                                            Photo credit: Nick Holmes

 

Cows in Field

Organic farming will revitalise waterways

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The two most crucial moves we can make to improve New Zealand’s sadly degraded waterways are to stop dairy expansion, and to transition towards truly sustainable farming, according to the Soil & Health Association. Organic farmers are well ahead of the game in sustainable production and provide a model for a positive, healthy future for New Zealand. The latest issue of Soil & Health’s magazine, Organic NZ, includes an article ‘Dairy farming without nitrate leaching’ (May/June issue, just released this week).

 

“New Zealand’s waterways are in a dire state, with many showing a continuing deterioration in water quality, and no clear path for improvement.” said Marion Thomson, co-chair of Soil & Health. “The main driver of this is the increasing intensification of non-organic farms, and we urgently need to turn this around.”

 

“Organic and biological farming systems have a much lower ecological footprint, greater biodiversity and reduced nitrate leaching, making waterways healthier for all to enjoy,” she said.

 

Soil & Health welcomed the opportunity to submit on the consultation document “Next Steps for Fresh Water” which forms part of the Government’s freshwater reforms. The document outlines a range of bottom lines that healthy rivers must not fall below. One of these measures is human health, and the bottom line is that waterways must be safe for secondary contact, i.e. wading or boating.

 

“Weak bottom lines such as this will only allow water quality to decline,” said Thomson. “The bottom line must be swimmable rivers, and this needs to be a national target.”

 

However, given thata big factor in the pollution of waterways is nitrates from cow urine diffusing through soils, and from soluble nitrogen fertilisers, simply fencing off and planting around streams cannot solve this issue. Healthier fresh wateris achievable by ensuring stock numbers are sustainable, and by shifting to organic and biological fertilising practices that involve nitrogen-fixing pasture species, and healthy living soils with good moisture-holding capacity.

 

Soil & Health supports a number of other proposals in the consultation document that it believes have the potential to improve the management of freshwater in New Zealand. These include proposals for measuring water quality by catchment rather than region, and to exclude stock from waterways through regulation.

 

Media contact:

Marion Thomson
Co-chair, Soil & Health
027 555 4014
advocacy@organicnz.org.nz

Organic practices will improve water quality

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A shift towards organic farming practices and diversification is needed to protect and enhance our waterways and our economy, says the Soil & Health Association. The recently released report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, shows that water quality is deteriorating, particularly in areas where there is expansion or intensification of dairy farming.
“The current push for more dairy farms and more animals on the land is not sustainable,” said Marion Thomson, co-chair of Soil & Health. “We need to be farming smart and farming to the conditions of each area, rather than trying to wring as much as we can out of the land, or extracting huge volumes of water to irrigate naturally dry areas.”
Already many farmers are using smart farming practices that reduce nutrient leaching. Organic farming methods improve the soil biology and soil structure, which means better water retention and less nutrient leaching. Organic and biological farmers make use of natural fertilisers including legumes, instead of soluble artificial nitrogen fertilisers that are more prone to leaching.
“There are limits to how much our land and waterways can take, and we must live within those limits if we are to continue to earn a livelihood from the land, and protect, preserve and improve the land for future generations,” said Thomson.
“There are also health concerns as nitrate levels in drinking water increase,” said Thomson. In October, Environment Canterbury released a groundwater survey which found that nitrate levels in their region had increased in about 30% of tested wells over the past ten years. In the Ashburton area 20 wells exceeded the safe nitrate level, and the Canterbury District Health Board’s medical officer of health warned that infant death could result if nitrates were not more strictly controlled.

Reference
‘Water quality in New Zealand: Land use and nutrient pollution’, Jan Wright, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
http://www.pce.parliament.nz/publications/all-publications/water-quality-in-new-zealand-land-use-and-nutrient-pollution

Media contact: advocacy@organicnz.org.nz, 09 419 4536

Soil & Health, established in 1941, is one of the world’s oldest organic organisations and publishes Organic NZ. We advocate for people’s right to have fresh, healthy, organic food and water free of GE, pesticides and additives. Oranga nuku, oranga kai, oranga tangata.
https://soilandhealth.org.nz
http://www.facebook.com/OrganicNZ

Polluted waterways pose threat to children

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Soil & Health – Organic NZ supports Pesticide Action Network’s call for an immediate reassessment of chlorpryifos, a dangerous aerially sprayed pesticide that is polluting New Zealand waterways.

A recently published scientific study from the University of Otago found traces of pesticides in waterways on New Zealand farms, including organic farms, believed to have been deposited by vapour or spray drift.

As well as the organophosphate chlorpyrifos, traces of endosulfan sulfate were discovered, even though this pesticide was banned in New Zealand in 2008.

Chlorpyrifos is especially dangerous for pregnant women and small children because it affects brain development in babies in the womb and in newborns. It also lowers IQ, is a known endocrine disruptor and is a risk factor for breast cancer.

The Environmental Protection Authority recently approved chlorpyrifos for aerial spraying despite Dow AgroSciences withdrawing it from industrial and home garden use.

“Soil & Health is one of the oldest organic organisations in the world and advocates for the consumer’s right to have fresh, healthy, organic food and water free of GE, pesticides and additives and their right to know what is in their food and water. Oranga nuku, oranga kai, oranga tangata. To learn more about what is really in your food subscribe to their Facebook Pagehttp://www.facebook.com/OrganicNZ

To view online click here www.organicnz.org.nz/node/6xx

References

(1) http://www.pananz.net

(2) http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/215616/traces-of-abandoned-pesticide…

(3) http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/news/chlorpyrifos-banned-192458981.html

(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpyrifos

Hamilton joins 30 other councils who don’t fluoridate

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Hamilton Council’s announcement yesterday to become fluoride free has attracted praise from Soil & Health – Organic NZ.
“Hamilton joins the 30 other regional councils in New Zealand out of a total of 75 that do not fluoridate,” says Debbie Swanwick, Spokesperson, Soil & Health – Organic NZ.

Eighty-eight percent of the 1567 submissions received from the public and interested parties advocated for fluoride to be removed from Hamilton’s water supply.

”Fluoride has been linked with underactive thyroid and therefore weight gain, lowering IQ levels, and dental and skeletal fluorosis,” she says.

The Fluoride Action Network states that most developed nations in the world do not fluoridate their water supply. Only 11 countries in the world have more than 50% of their population drinking fluoridated water: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Guyana, Hong Kong, the Irish Republic, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and New Zealand. Sixty-two percent of drinking water in New Zealand is fluoridated and ninety-six percent of toothpaste sold nationwide is as well.

”The biggest secret about fluoride is that it only works topically; ingesting it causes harm not good, says Swanwick.

Science supports her concerns. In 2001, the Union of Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Headquarters Office in Washington D.C. stated: “we hold that water fluoridation is an unreasonable risk.”

”It is about time that New Zealand fell into line with the rest of the world and stopped this practice. It’s as simple as turning a tap off at our public water works. Whether or not people believe in the science, our government should allow people to make their own choice on this matter, not mass medicate without their consent when many members of the public are ill-informed on the subject,” says Swanwick.

Soil & Health – Organic NZ is one of the oldest organic organisations in the world and advocates for the consumer’s right to have fresh, healthy, organic food and water free of GE, pesticides and additives and their right to know what is in their food and water. Oranga nuku, oranga kai, oranga tangata. To learn more about what is really in your food subscribe to their Facebook Page and subscribe http://www.facebook.com/OrganicNZ

References

(1) http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/health/
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88pfVo3bZLY
(3) http://www.fluoridealert.org/issues/health/
(4) http://www.healthfreedom.co.nz/latest-news/113-fluoridation-free-nationa…

Methyl bromide gas seeps through Picton’s Ferry Terminal

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Detectable levels of the invisible and odourless, carcinogenic and neurotoxic methyl bromide gas have been found at Picton’s wharves during log fumigation activities.

Monitoring devices at Waitohi Wharf next to the interisland ferry terminal, and at Picton Wharf at the Picton marina recorded methyl bromide gas during venting of fumigated log stacks in nearby Shakespeare Bay in January.

“Methyl bromide within the Picton area and at the ferry terminal is something we have long predicted, and needs to stop immediately,” said Soil & Health Association of NZ spokesperson Steffan Browning.

“Allowing methyl bromide gas to seep through the ferry terminal is no way to welcome entrants to clean green 100% Pure Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island. Recapture technology is available now, so no methyl bromide needs to reach the ferry terminal or Picton.”

The Marlborough District Council Environment Committee received a report last week on January 2011 fumigations showing methyl bromide gas was drifting from the Shakespeare Bay log fumigations through the ferry terminal towards Picton.

“Soil & Health-Organic NZ, and local group Guardians of the Sounds, have previously pointed out that just because methyl bromide was often not detected at the Port fence lines, it did not mean that it was not getting to the ferry terminal and Picton. We have been vindicated, and either fumigation must be stopped, or recapture of the toxic fumigant must be set up immediately.”

Monitoring at the Port fence line uses technology measuring parts per million, although the recent results are in parts per billion, which is lower than that required by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA). Air monitoring only indicates gas levels at the monitor site. Weather conditions also effect the concentration of gas at any particular point.

“A recording at one point may not represent what is happening 20 metres away, and ERMA staff have also acknowledged the difficulty in determining where the gas will go at Picton following ships holds or tarpaulins being opened for fumigant release.”

Port Nelson uses recapture technology when fumigating containers or sawn timber, but logs requiring fumigation are generally sent to Picton or shipped through Tauranga or another port for fumigation in the ship’s hold. Recapture technology is able to be used in log stacks under tarpaulins but gas recapture costs mean transporting logs to a more permissive fumigation facility is preferred by log exporters.

“Monitoring is a sop to the local community while log fumigation with the toxin is able to continue, with the gas being released to the atmosphere even though charcoal filter recapture technology is immediately available,” said Mr Browning.

“With record log prices, there is no longer an economic excuse for the timber industry or ports anywhere in New Zealand to expose local communities, ferry passengers or the atmosphere to the ozone depleting, carcinogenic and neurotoxic gas.”

Soil & Health – Organic NZ has campaigned for decades against the use of methyl bromide use and has a vision of an Organic 2020.

Notes:

Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is an odourless, colourless gas, used as a pre-shipment (QPS) fumigant pesticide that kills all pests and is extremely toxic to humans. Human exposure to methyl bromide has potentially serious acute impacts on the central nervous system and internal organs that can be fatal, with a range of neurological effects associated with chronic exposure. Deaths of workers at Port Nelson from motor neurone disease statistically linked to methyl bromide exposure, predicated the Environment Court case that has restricted the release of methyl bromide there.

New Zealand’s increasing log exports are the largest user of methyl bromide here. New Zealand has an obligation under the Montreal Protocol On Substances That Deplete The Ozone Layer to minimize methyl bromide emissions and recover and recycle to the extent possible. Use in New Zealand has risen at least tenfold since signing the Montreal Protocol in 2001, with expectations of significant further increase in parallel with record log exports.