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.
The European Union’s highest court has rejected Bayer’s bid to overturn a European law which heavily restricted the use of bee-harming pesticides. In 2013 the European Union banned neonicotinoid, or ‘neonic’ use on bee-attractive crops. In 2018 the ban was extended to use on all outdoor crops, including annual arable crops, cereals and horticultural crops. The General Court decision, released Thursday, is…
A blasé approach to glyphosate regulation in New Zealand threatens our international reputation and poses a risk to New Zealand consumers, Soil & Health Association spokesperson Jodie Bruning said today. “Japanese authorities have now rejected five shipments of glyphosate-contaminated honey from New Zealand’. “New Zealand needs to take glyphosate contamination seriously. The International Agency for Cancer…
“The only way to ensure that the chickens you are eating are genuinely free range is to choose organic,” says Marion Wood, co-chair of the Soil & Health Association. “And what better time to start than during Organic Week which is right now.” She points out that there is no enforceable industry standard for free-range…
“This is an amazing Christmas present for the organic community and we’re delighted”, says Bailey Peryman, Co-Chairperson for the Soil & Health Association, welcoming the Government’s announcement to progress with a national standard for organic production next year. “People want clean, safe food, and are increasingly turning to organic foods and products but it’s difficult to be sure that they really are…
Our public agencies must protect human health and ecosystems, and use rigorous independent science rather than industry data, says the Soil & Health Association. Soil & Health welcomes the release of a paper by the Green Party that exposes many flaws in an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) report on glyphosate-based herbicides (such as Roundup). The…
High nitrate levels recently measured in the Tasman’s Waimea Plains signal yet another alarm bell for the health of our waterways, and the urgent need to reduce or eliminate the use of soluble nitrogen fertilisers, says the Soil & Health Association. “Fencing off waterways and riparian planting is all well and good, but it’s not…
In a “state of the science” review released today, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) International presents a large body of research documenting the adverse human health and environmental impacts of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides and underscores the need for these to be phased out globally. Environmental and health advocates say the monograph on the world’s most…
New Zealand’s biotech industry is not under threat as a result of a High Court ruling upholding an Environment Court’s decision to give regional councils control over use and release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their district, says the Soil and Health Association. The High Court ruling on Wednesday was based on an appeal…
The government’s Childhood Obesity Plan doesn’t go nearly far enough to address the alarming increase in childhood obesity, according to the Soil & Health Association. “There are some commendable actions in this plan, but the rise of obesity in children is serious and we need much bolder action to prevent major costs to the…
he Soil & Health Association commends the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) for their policy briefing ‘Tackling Obesity’.* Obesity is a major public health issue in New Zealand. It is making people sick and unhappy, and putting a strain on our health system. “Diet is a major part of the problem. We need to educate…
Genetically engineered stock feed could be the biggest culprit in the Clostridium botulinum contamination that caused the recent recall of some Fonterra dairy products, according to the Soil & Health Association. “New Zealand dairy cattle are eating more and more GE stockfeed, increasing the likelihood of botulism from milk products,” says Debbie Swanwick, spokesperson, Soil…
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…
”The practice of dumping toxic oil drilling and fracking waste on farmland is compromising the ability of New Zealand farmers to grow good food,” says Debbie Swanwick, Spokesperson, Soil & Health – Organic NZ. Her comments follow recent media attention that 12 farmers in Taranaki practicing so-called ‘land farming’ are providing milk to Fonterra. Land…
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…
A toxic heavy metal we have been putting on our farms for decades could jeopardise our agricultural exports and our health. The Soil & Health Association is calling for maximum residue levels of cadmium in fertilisers. “Sooner or later our export markets will start rejecting our dairy products because of unsafe levels of cadmium,” says…
“It is about time hospitals in New Zealand administer the basics well. Food is medicine and it needs to be better in New Zealand, not cheaper,” says Debbie Swanwick, Spokesperson, Soil & Health – Organic NZ. Her comments follow the recent announcement that the government is considering outsourcing hospital food to save ten million dollars….
“Hungry for Change is a new movie that unleashes the diet industry’s biggest secret – it is sugar that makes people fat and it is in everything especially low-fat diet products” says Debbie Swanwick, Spokesperson – Soil & Health – Organic NZ. Most of the fructose from sugar is metabolized by the liver. There it gets…
Environmental and food safety organisations internationally are celebrating the global phase out of the DDT-like organochlorine pesticide, endosulfan. New Zealand NGOs, Soil & Health Association, Pesticide Action Network – Aotearoa New Zealand, and Safe Food Campaign along with the Green Party had for many years called for the banning of endosulfan, and a reassessment by…
The Soil & Health Association joins Environment Minister Nick Smith in welcoming the $2.5 million Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) funding, for applied research into alternatives to log fumigation with methyl bromide, and the release of the neurotoxic and carcinogenic gas to the atmosphere. However Soil & Health is scathing of the amount and the length…
Tonnes of neurotoxic and ozone depleting fumigant methyl bromide gas will again be released from the 169m ship Eastern Star’s hold at Picton’s Shakespeare Bay wharf tonight, and tomorrow evening (28 January) more tonnes of the gas will be released from under the 13 wharf side tarpaulins covering approximately 9000 tons of logs destined for…