Greenpeace nitrate claims 'misleading'
Critics say claims from environmental activist organisation Greenpeace around nitrates in South Island waterways are ‘misleading’ and ‘misinformation’.
They have been claiming that South Canterbury’s Lake Opuha is the subject of chemical contamination and have been pestering Environment Canterbury (ECan) to do tests for DDT. However, the regional authority says campaigner Allan Campbell told an ECan official the banned pesticide DDT had been added to one of several samples the group had tested for chemicals. Apparently the group added the toxic chemical “to check the effectiveness of the laboratory’s testing”. Campbell said the group suspected the lake bed was contaminated and “their test results support our findings.
