Ministry accused of stalling spray report

By ANGELA GREGORY

The Ministry of Health has been accused of sitting on a report which points to possible health risks from the painted apple moth spraying in West Auckland.

The Wellington School of Medicine was commissioned by the ministry last year to report on the effects of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's spraying programme.

The second draft of the report was submitted to the ministry for comment last month and is expected to be made public by the end of this month.

Protest groups and Green MP Sue Kedgley have accused the ministry of deliberately stalling the report, the findings of which they believe would justify stopping the aerial spraying.

Ms Kedgley said yesterday that the delay in finalising the report was "scandalous" as it questioned the safety of the Foray 48B spray.

Ms Kedgley said the painted apple moth programme should instead focus on ground spraying.

"It's unethical to carpet-spray a large urban population with a substance that the Government can no longer claim is safe," she said.

One of the report co-investigators, Professor Alistair Woodward, yesterday confirmed the spray programme could cause ill-health, and recommended further research.

Professor Woodward, now head of Auckland University's school of population health, told the Herald he did not regard the findings as unexpected or radical.

There was some frustration at the time it was taking to get the report finalised and available to the public but he did not think there was any deliberate intention to delay it.

Professor Woodward said the report involved reading literature and interviewing people living in West Auckland, and supported further investigation of what seemed to be plausible claims of health effects.

People had complained of upper respiratory tract irritations, sore eyes, aggravated coughing, wheezing, sore throat, sore nose, prickly eyes and gastrointestinal problems such as nausea and diarrhoea.

"You should not underestimate how distressing these can be," Professor Woodward said.

Sue Berman, of Stop Aerial Spraying, accused the ministry and public health officials of a cover up.

Ms Berman said while the ministry played "pass the parcel" with the report thousands of people in West Auckland were still getting sprayed, and having to endure the impacts, dislocation and health effects of an aerial campaign well into its third year.

Recommendations

* The researchers call for a more focused study of groups who are particularly susceptible to spraying, such as asthma or allergy sufferers.

* The report also recommends an investigation into how the spray, a fine bioaerosol, might affect the human lung - although there is no direct evidence of harm.