Pesticide comment called for

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 288, 30 May 1989, Page 3

Pesticide comment called for

Public comment on pesticides has been called for by the Ministry for the Environment to help form, along with an independent report prepared at Lincoln College, the Government's Resource Management Law Reform With market gardening as a major activity in the Waimarino the use of pesticides is an important issue for this area. The deadline for submissions is June 14, and those interested in reading the Lincoln report, entitled "Pesticides: Issues and Options for New Zealand" can obtain a copy from Govemment Bookshops or from the Distribution Officer, Ministry for the Environment, P.O.Box 10-362, Wellington. The report aims to cover the many complex issues tied to pesticides such as food safety, environmental contamination, export access, quarantine concerns, public health and technical uncertainty. "We must adopt approaches that enhance our access to export markets and protect the health and environment of domestic consumers," says the report. "We can continue to subjugate our health and environment to export agricultural earnings, with the likelyhood that continued heavy use of pesticides may threaten our health, contaminate our environment and undermine our options for export agriculture. The longer we continue down that path the fewer become our options for improvement. Or we can start acting now to institute modified market forces (polluter pays) and restructure our pesticide authorities to upgrade environmental protection and public health as primary statutory responsibilities on an equal footing to accountable export agriculture," concludes the report.