EPA chief executive to step down
Allan Freeth, chief executive of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has announced he is resigning.
"We reassessed paraquat in 2019 and brought in strict rules and safety guidelines to avoid any potential impacts on people and the environment," the EPA told Rural News.
"Since then, we have continued monitoring for any new information that might prompt us to look again at paraquat. We are always evaluating information about the potential risks posed by chemicals being used in New Zealand, and this informs what actions we might take."
The EPA comments come as a debate in Australia over the use of herbicide paraquat and its possible link to Parkinson's disease has caused ructions within their national farmer lobby.
State-funded broadcaster ABC recently ran a story detailing a cluster of Parkinson's disease cases in a Victorian farming community.
The family-featured in the Landline program came under attack from some farm group leaders.
The ABC also claimed that National Farmers' Federation, the peak farmer body in Australia, told its members to stay silent on the story. In a leaked email seen by the ABC, the NFF head office encourage its members to "avoid prolonging the story".
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However, the leader of the NFF's Victorian branch broke ranks, warning her organisation risks being "on the wrong side of history".
Emma Germano, a farmer from Gippsland and the state membership president of the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), said she would ignore the internal directive from her national counterparts to stay silent after watching the Landline report.
The ABC claims that a growing number of independent studies link paraquat with the incurable neurodegenerative condition.
Paraquat has been used in New Zealand since the 1960s, mostly on clover seed and lucerne crops, but also on a wide range of foos for humans: brassicas, green beans, kumara, lettuce, onions, potatoes, spinach, strawberries and sweet corn.
But the EPA says it has not carried out research into potential links between paraquat and Parkinson's disease.
It says paraquat has been banned in other countries for a variety of reasons and mostly driven by intentional misuse on a large scale, which has not been identified as a major issue in New Zealand.
"This chemical is a useful tool for controlling weeds in horticulture.
"It's particularly importat to use a variety of substances to avoid weeds developing resistance to a single chemical."
In a statement, NFF says it acknowledges and sympathises with the farmers and families that were featured in ABC's Landline program.
The statement says that it's absolutely critical that the products farmers use are safe for humans and the environment.
Australian farmers put their faith in Australia's independent and science-based regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA), to determine what products they can use and how to use them safely, the NFF says.
"As part of its ongoing chemical review of paraquat, the APVMA investigated the link between paraqut and Parkinson's disease and reported that the overwhelming weight of evidence suggests that there is no connection.
"We are not scientists or medical experts, and that's why the role of the independent regulator is so important."
The global agricultural chemical giant Syngenta is the original manufacturer, and it maintains that paraquat does not cause Parkinson's.
