Hundreds rally against moth spraying

6.30pm

Hundreds of people protested today against aerial spraying due to begin on Monday to eradicate the painted apple moth.

A three year $90 million aerial spraying of biological insecticide Foray 48B, or Btk, will begin on Monday over about 160,000 people in 40,000 households.

It will be sprayed across 12,000ha from Massey in the north to Swanson in the west and near the Waitakere Ranges.

So far appeals to the Office of the Ombudsmen for an injunction to stop it from going ahead have failed.

So on Saturday about 200 people, protesting that the spray's long-term effects are unknown and the spraying is unnecessary, marched along Waikumete Hill and Great North Rd in West Auckland to protest.

Among the protesters was Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, who said the residents deserved to know what was in the spray.

The spray's ingredients have been a commercial secret since it was used in the white spotted tussock moth operation over East Auckland households in 1996.

Some were concerned that the government was more interested in helping the forestry industry than the health of the West Auckland residents.

Cabinet papers, released when the eradication was announced, confirmed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry wanted to back out of the eradication and favoured controlling the moth's spread. But it then reviewed its decision and increased estimated cost of the moth's spread from $48 million over 20 years to between $58 and $356 million.

Last week about 50 residents protested outside Helen Clark's Mt Eden home.

Many of the residents were families who said they had never protested before.

Linda Borman and her children, 6-year-old Hannah and 9-year-old Aaron, were worried about poison being sprayed on their homes.

She said her children got colds and sore throats when the first $11 million spraying campaign over 600ha began in January. She ended up taking her kids out of school for two days after spraying, meaning they had lost nearly two weeks of school this year.


"It's like a prison sentence."

Another family, Denise and Marcel Van Kempen and their 3-year-old daughter Pixie were planning on moving from their rental house in Point Chevalier, which has been their home for six years.

Denise has an immune deficiency disorder and did not want to expose herself or her family to any potential poisons.

"Pixie likes to pick flowers and eat sand. It's what 3-year-olds do. But if they spray this stuff she could be eating poison."

Biosecurity Minister Jim Sutton has said that he believed there were no serious side-effects from Btk.

- HERALD STAFF

Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment

nzherald.co.nz/health