Aerial attack on moth pest ends

A two-year chemical spraying operation to destroy a species of moth in West Auckland ended yesterday.

The eradication programme has sprayed 663,000 litres of insecticide on the area since January 2002.

Biosecurity Minister Jim Sutton said the final aerial bombardment of the painted apple moth marked a milestone in the battle to wipe out the pest.

The operation has been dogged by criticism from people living in the spray zone complaining of ill health caused by the chemicals used.

A health support service was formed and some of the worst affected people were moved from their homes to "safe houses" during the spraying.

Mr Sutton said yesterday that the Government had made a "tough decision" to support the operation.

"This moth is a serious threat to our urban, native and commercial trees with an estimated economic impact of about $258 million," he said.

"Aerial spraying has disrupted people's lives, but we have been heartened by the support we have received from the majority of the people in western Auckland."

Despite protests, a report into the $100 million campaign released three weeks ago said that the 2 per cent of West Aucklanders who reported effects from the spray was in line with international findings.

Mr Sutton said that underpinning the aerial treatments were scientific studies to provide valuable information on how to fight similar pests in the future.

No moths have been trapped for four months and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said it was optimistic that the battle to eradicate the painted apple moth had largely been won.

But the Associate Minister for Biosecurity, Marian Hobbs, warned that the end of aerial operations did not mean the end of the eradication programme.

Monitoring for any sign of remnant moth populations would continue and vegetation controls would stay in place.

Ms Hobbs said that spraying would resume if another moth population was found.