1080 putting farmers livelihood at risk

Mary - you stink!

Dazla - you should get your facts right - this whole community was poisoned against its will - for TB possums that do not exist. It has taken farmers a long time to speak out against what they know is completely wrong and all you can do is call them names and try and discredit long term hard working genuine earners for NZ's overseas funds - people who know the difference between truth and lies and spin and who really understand their neighbouring outdoors and what was in it - not TB I can assure you - water sampling by the poisoners is a crock of shite - the pellets are in the water and with the latest rain there will be more - the adjacent areas stink of death - why don't you come down for a good open eyed look instead of calling all the victims rednecks etc. West Coasters do no seek publicity, they are desperate - stick it in your backyard why don't you! Many promises were made by the poison brigade but none written on paper and all broken or altered or lied about. Mistakes made and denied even when they are on film, people threatened, to promote this disgusting act - no facts to support the dubious need for poison, no possums to speak of, no TB - don't start of those who live here Dazla unless you want to front up and take a good look at the results of probably your handiwork.

John Deal, I wonder if you would enjoy your trusted 1080 being dropped in the creek of your property, where your pets and possibly your children have access to handle or even eat this poison. Until you are happy that this poison is safe with your family, keep it away from mine. I feel that the points made about risks to our exports are valid. Even if there is no direct risk to our meat/milk, public perception from overseas markets where this poison is banned from use may well still affect our farmers and NZ's economy. I am not very sorry that your staff have sufferred abuse or threats. Surely they only need to see video evidence of one helpless animal poisoned by 1080, sufferring an extremely painful and unneccesary death before they really the company paying their wages is doing something very wrong. Instead of fighting the brave farmers spending their personal time and effort to do peacefully get their point heard by the public who pay taxes and trust you to do the right thing, why don't you spend your spare time investigating an alternative to 1080.

Once again the anti's only have emotion, no facts. Its a shame the media takes emotional comments and reports them as facts without following it up. Shame on the media for their lack of investigative journalism. Expose this group of people for the lying manipulative thugs they really are! There's your story. Not some crap trap about a statistical impossibility. Its a shining example of the anti's believing their own propaganda by stating a mathematical lie about the number of Westland residents who are opposed. The survey (that ended up as a petition as that's all it is), did not even sample half of Westland's population. To get 95% you first have to survey 100% 100% fact, no lies here

This is just a bunch of lies by empty minded people who think they know everything. The so called drop happened when? And when was the baits found in water? These people just do not know the characteristics of the 1080 that they blame for everything. If these so called farmers were so much concerned about their wellbeing and animal welfare, why did they rush to contact the tv crew, did they even try to contact the agencies responsible for human and animal health. What did they get out of it? Moreso, do those other farmers know that they could be prosecuted for handling the 1080? Next time you brainstorm first instead of embarassing yourselves like this.

Thankyou to the two farmers game enough to bring to public attention the disgrace of mass poisoning without justification of any sort - they rightly state that our exports are at risk as is our tourist industry. John Deal is entirely misleading in his comments - he knows full well that FSA test 15 out of thousand of cattle killed in NZ for 1080 residues and no milk but he also knows of domestic deer, cattle, dairy cattle killed by 1080 poison - he also knows of the tonnes of milk dumped when it6 is thought that it might b e contaminated, the shipments of meat and milk products not delivered but destroyed before they reach their markets on suspicion of contamination by 1080 and he knows we don't test it first because we do not want to officially state how vulnerable our pastoral industries are. He knows there are areas in NZ that can not be organic because of the repeated proximity of 1080 use, he knows tht we value trees more highly than people and that commercial forests are not able to export production timber to certain countries if they use 1080, China being one. Ask yourself - if all oxygen breathing organisms are vulnerable to 1080, if it is a mens fertility issue, if it alters the foetus and embryo - why should we have this crap tipped within metres of our homes and farms - our native species are killedmore efficiently than the pests that prey on them - Shame on you spinners of the truth who are happy to take your 30 pieces of silver and head back to your countries of origin and more shame on you NZers who insist that a few "dole bluggers" are the only opposition - you well know that 95% of the Westland District is opposed to the use of this poison - extrapolate that over NZ and remember you have been warned so politicians and supporters of the poisoners will be held accountable by if not this generation, then the next - no amount of lies will prevent the truth from coming out. No amount of gov. referals back to the AHB will help -dishonesty sux

And how many millions are spent each year on these aerial poison drops over our "100% PURE"?? country? Rural people have had enough of fifty years of aerial poison. What's the of definition of stupidity? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. If it worked the possums would be extinct by now. Wake up NZ! Clean green NZ is a joke and when our overseas consumers wake up to this fact the poison pushers will be running for cover.

You should get your facts right. There was no 500m buffer promised. Water samples taken for Mr Ferguson showed no 1080 detected in his water.

The protesters are just attention seeking rednecks

The attempt by anti-1080 activist Stu Davidson and Jim Ferguson to hoodwink the fair-minded public and the media in last night’s TV3 “story” was shameful.

Our recorded GPS flightlines show that the Mikonui possum control operation near Ross was flown according to the consented boundaries some four weeks ago. Two water samples taken on Mr Ferguson’s property 24 hours after the operation, including one at his water supply, tested negative for 1080.

Fair-minded people will perhaps be asking a number of questions. If Messrs Ferguson and Davidson’s concerns are genuine, why was the media among the first ports of call when the contractor and/or the Medical Officer of Health are the appropriate agencies to be contacted?

If 1080 is supposedly “the deadliest poison known to man” (sic) why did we see images of people illegally handling or scooping pellets without wearing appropriate personal protective equipment?

Why also the tenuous link to the pellets’ alleged discovery and meat exports? The New Zealand Food Safety Authority’s checking systems have not detected 1080 in any commercially-produced foods (including meat and milk) since testing began in 1999.

Fortunately, contractors and AHB staff have not allowed threats and personal abuse to distract them from their lawful activities during this year’s West Coast aerial bovine TB operations.

We commend them for their restraint and professionalism. Farmers have also faced similar challenges and we would like to thank them for their invaluable support.

Effective disease management is vital for the whole West Coast economy.

Unfortunately, continuing attempts to undermine that work, using z-nails and other supposedly “peaceful” tactics, make the claims of some of those involved in the crusade against a certain toxin ever more implausible.

Jim Shewans comment that Jim Fergusons comments are biased dribble reeks of hypocrysy considering Mr Shewans has a vested interest in spreading this deadly toxin into our forests and water ways. He is no doubt very well paid to spread the stuff. As far as his comments about 1080 eradicating Bovine TB more dribble. Wild animals only become infected with TB when interacting and cohabiting with infected cattle. CATTLE ARE THE SPREADERS not wild animals. The sooner this disgusting practice of sreading one of the most deadly toxins into our enviroment stops the better.