Ignorance in spray use?

Recently, Tauranga City Council staff made statements regarding herbicide spraying, the first regarding the deterioration of Norfolk Pines due to collateral damage from prickle spraying; the second regarding bee deaths on a Papamoa beach.

Both statements demonstrate staff's horrifying lack of understanding about the very chemicals they're responsible for spraying.

Incident one: staff say if they had access to more/different chemicals, the unforeseen, inadvertent poisoning of Norfolk pines may not have occurred.

This despite the fact other councils, with unlimited access to sprays, are experiencing the same problems. I believe pohutukawas may also be affected by these sprays.

I'd love to know how council staff can guarantee any substitute herbicide will not also cause this kind of collateral damage.

Incident two: while there's no proven link between the bee deaths and spraying, I'm astounded by ranger Stephanie Brackstone's profoundly unscientific statement that herbicides only affect plants so are an unlikely cause of bee deaths. What nonsense!

These chemicals are highly toxic – which is why they work in the first place.

Take the commonly-used Roundup (glyphosate); this chemical has been banned in some countries. Most European countries are now severely limiting its use or phasing it out due to mounting independent, peer-reviewed evidence of its chronic toxicity, even at extremely low levels. Glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor, implicated in reproductive and developmental abnormalities, breast, lymphatic and other cancers and kidney disease.

Council staff have been repeatedly presented with this mountain of evidence, yet refuse to obey the spray policy's edict to employ 'prudent avoidance” where there is doubt about the safety of a chemical.

Instead, they prefer to rely on the herbicide manufacturer's own propaganda. Hence, dying trees, possibly bees, and how about us?

So beware – these days it's best to wear shoes - not to avoid prickleweed - but to prevent getting poisoned by chemicals. Go figure!

G Oakbrook, Welcome Bay.

Editor's Note: Tauranga City Council declined a right of reply to this letter.

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