Of rivers and 1080
Released 17 Jun 2011
Don Nicolson is Federated Farmers President
The Cawthron Institute has reproached me for recent comments about the West Coast's ‘pristine' Mokihinui River having a ‘poor ecosystem'. As my source was a Section 42A report the Cawthron Institute delivered to Horizons Regional Council proposed ‘One Plan' Inquiry, it wasn't me who put the Mokihinui River above the red line on the two water indicators used in that report. That would have been the Cawthron Institute's Dr Roger Young who authored the report and it was this report that led to the ludicrous and widely reported claim that the Manawatu River is ‘worst in the western world'.
The point I was making about the Mokihinui stands; while just a farmer I know the science of water quality is a complicated thing. It also leaves me wondering, why the Institute is now being uber-sensitive? After all, it never once publicly challenged the ridiculous claim about the Manawatu River that persists today. The best Federated Farmers got when we asked was a ‘clarification' on its website and a concession that Cawthron Institute ‘research DOES NOT [their emphasis] indicate that the Manawatu River is the worst in the western world'.
It's fair to say the Cawthron Institute's evidence got hammered during the One Plan Inquiry. It shows that scientists regularly challenge their peers as a part of the rigorous scientific process that shouldn't regard emotion or belief, but seeks to find the facts. The often maligned pest control agent, 1080, graphically demonstrates this point. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, deserves praise for sticking a pin into the 1080 mythology balloon. Her plain-English report is the latest in a long list to reach the same conclusion, including the high profile 2007 Environmental Risk Management Authority Inquiry. Consistently, 1080 has been found to be the most effective and humane tool we have right now to control threats to our fauna, flora and economy.
Unlike many other poisons that persist in the environment, 1080 not only biodegrades but it dilutes rapidly in water. In fact, water samples must be taken within eight hours of a drop to find any trace of it. To die of 1080 in water you'd have to swallow 20,000 litres within this timeframe; I think you'd die of something else first. The fact is 1080 does not kill on touch and nor does it affect the human endocrine system. I wonder if the fear around 1080 is possibly because the name rolls off the tongue a lot easier than the long scientific names associated with other pest control agents. If it went by its real name, sodium fluoroacetate, would it be so controversial?
1080 is the best tool farmers and environmentalists have right now to control nasty pests with even nastier habits. It's actually safer to swim in shark infested waters than it is to be a Kiwi born in the wild. It's why Forest & Bird and Federated Farmers have common positions on 1080. With only an eighth of the Conservation Estate being protected by pest control agents, we need to look at our national priorities. In just two years, the emissions trading scheme mammon will swallow close to $3 billion of our dollars. You have to seriously ask what this jaw-dropping sum will achieve globally as opposed to the biodiversity protection it could deliver locally instead.
If I was a Kiwi chick about to be killed by a stoat, I'd know what my answer would be. Please go to www.pce.parliament.nz and read the report for yourself.
