Wairarapa 1080 drops an example to the rest

Exemplary controls of aerial 1080 poison drops in Wairarapa led the way to a tightening of rules over use of the pesticide across New Zealand, Greater Wellington medical officer of health Stephen Palmer said yesterday.
He said the tightening of Environmental Risk Management Agency rules announced this week regarding the use of sodium monofluoroacetate or 1080 poison for pest control is the agency "wanting to bring the rest of the country up to our standard".
Dr Palmer approved a major aerial drop programme in the Tararuas over a period from August to December this year, he said. "In the greater Wellington and Wairarapa region we have a huge amount of control it is one of the tougher areas in the country."
Access points to areas involved in the drops are marked with information boards and warning signs, he said, particularly around picnic areas and roadways and programmes are not run during school holidays.
Police, vets and schools in the area are also warned when a programme is to start and the public notified, Mr Palmer said.
He said 1080 is a poison that kills mammals and insects and that "it can be lethal to humans but not quite as lethal as cyanide".
The pesticide is monitored most closely where drops are made near waterways and water supply intakes.
A buffer zone where drops cannot be made is required near reservoirs and tributary streams, he said, and water is tested for presence of the poison in its whole and decaying forms.
"In Wairarapa the water testing has very consistently shown there has been no contamination," he said.
"One thing in 1080's favour is that it is very environmentally friendly it breaks down 4 or 5km downstream and breaks down very quickly. Other control poisons persist far longer."
Public opposition to the aerial drops nationally has been echoed in Wairarapa, he said, "especially in Featherston" and from groups including Wairarapa members of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association.
Opponents have targeted poison drops in the region, he said, "gathering up baits and putting them somewhere else to discredit the programme".
Kevin Duckworth, New Zealand Deerstalkers Association North Island vice-president and Wairarapa resident, said he is "guardedly optimistic" that the new controls keep waterways even safer. "It's the aerial use of 1080 that is indiscriminate and kills all kinds of non-target species, and that means deer are killed as well it's not so much the ground-based placement that we oppose," he said.
"But with the new rules they can no longer dump 1080 over the Waingawa River in the Tararuas, where a major 1080 operation is currently planned, because it's a public water supply for Masterton."
Mr Duckworth owns a property near the intake for the Masterton supply and remains "hopeful" the poison drop this year will not enter or contaminate the waterway.