Green MP Steffan Browning will hold four meetings in the North to raise awareness of chemical dangers to human health and the environment.
Green MP Steffan Browning will hold four meetings in the North to raise awareness of chemical dangers to human health and the environment.
Green MP Steffan Browning will speak in four Northland centres next week to promote his calls opposing use of herbicides containing glyphosate, which the World Health Organisation last year classified as "probably carcinogenic".
He wants the Environmental Protection Agency to reassess the weedkiller and for glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundupto be banned from use in parks, streets and schools where children play.
And the list MP would also like neonicotinoid poisons taken off shop shelves because they have been linked to an international decline in honey bees. Placemakers and the Warehouse have both withdrawn neonicotinoid products from sale and the MP would like more firms to follow suit.
The importance of bees, and chemicals that kill them, will be highlighted during the Steffan Browning roadshow.
Glyphosate also affects bees, causing them to forget where their hives are.
Mr Browning will begin his Northland roadshow by speaking at the Te Ahu Centre in Kaitaia at 7pm on May 17, followed by a meeting at Kingston House in Kerikeri at 7pm on May 18.
He will speak at 116 Bank St, Whangarei, at noon on May 19 and at the Wesley Methodist Church in Dargaville at 7pm the same day.
Mr Browning opposes the Government's Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Amendment Bill, which would extend the period of protection for confidential information given in support of an application to register an innovative trade name product from 5 to 8 years.
Criticising the hundreds of new compounds registered, he said legislation was needed to reduce the number of pesticides not enhance them.
Glyphosate is a compound common in many brands of weedkiller, most famously in Roundup. While the World Health Organisation has classified it as "probably carcinogenic" to humans, it's still legal to use it on home garden or lawns.
Home owners unaware glyphosate-based herbicides pose a health risk use them to combat weeds.
An increasing number of crops have been genetically engineered to be tolerant of glyphosate (eg Roundup Ready soybean) which allows farmers to use the chemical as a postemergence herbicide against weeds.
Studies have shown glyphosate causes damage to cells and genes that can lead to cancer. The organic phosphate chemical is claimed to induce hormone dependent breast cancer growth. It harms fish and other aquatic animals if it enters waterways and recent research showed it and other common herbicides can cause antibiotic resistance.
Glyphosate is often combined in weed killers with other active ingredients that also harm animals and people. It is not known if there is a safe level of the chemical as it has never been assessed by regulators at sub-lethal levels.
Studies proving glyphosate is safe were all provided by the applicant chemical company, which Mr Browning says is a conflict of interest.
Alternatives exist to glyphosate weed management, with North Shore councils trying steam, hot water and foam, Dunedin council using salt water and Tauranga trailing chemical-free weed control.
"Operating costs for these chemical-free products are significantly lower than five years ago," Mr Browning says. The market is ready, the product is ready and councils know existing chemical practices endanger their staff and their ratepayers."
Local groups to be formed at each of the Northland meetings will follow up any further action those at the meetings decide to take.
There are petitions on http://action.greens.org.nz/bees and http://action.greens.org.nz/sprayfree.-
