'Clean, green NZ - it's a joke,' say tourists

Having myself been aerial sprayed with herbicides, in my own front garden, I totally understand the concern of foreign visitors and disgust they must have felt from being assaulted in such a way. I'm sorry for their awful experience. Perhaps we should be notifying tourists about the disproportionate per capita use of pesticides & herbicides in NZ and the inherent risks of exposure to such chemicals on arrival on our clean green shores NOT This practice of spraying highly toxic pesticides/herbicides is not well understood, researched or discussed in this country. I suggest that any of the doubting folk go & get themselves spayed and see how you feel afterwards & if your not game for a bit of Round Up in your cuppa ? why not research these chemicals and their well accepted effects. One word 'Monsanto' This country's chemical culture is deep seated and highly defended. Like Rugby, it is sacred. Our country appears to be in the grip of a toxic war against anything non native at the cost of the ecosystem, that's humans included. Is it post-colonial guilt ? An attempt to recreate what has already been lost ? Who knows. The poisioning of our environment to recreate an imagined ideal, is ECOLOGICAL SUICIDE ! The practice of aerial spraying of pesticides are banned in Europe. These practices are sacred here. We scratch our heads and wonder why we have some of the worlds highest rates of Cancer & Infertility ! What happened to hard work ? Poison isn't good for a quick fix but it'll work for suicide.

I am totally fed up with the lack of intelligence of the people that say "1080 occurs naturally in a plant" We have Ragwort here that kills animals that eat it. It is considered too dangerous to have on our land and we are FINED by the Govt if we don't remove it. So we would not be aloud to mass produce it and spread it everywhere like 1080 Brodificum Cyanide etc.

Why is DOC spraying for gorse when Landcare have brought in a moth that eats gorse? Biocontrols such as this should be the first port of call, not the last. As long as our taxes go towards raining poison down on our environment any money spent on tourism or health is just money down the drain.

Thank you for reporting this story. This article highlights a chronic denial by Government agencies to acknowledge the real and potential health impacts and concerns of people to the exposure of aerial applications of poison. The Ombudsman recently released a highly critical report of MAF and the Ministry of Health on their campaign in West Auckland. Clearly the findings need to be translated and understood by all Government agencies including DOC. It does not seem unreasonable to me that people should assume they will not be exposed to chemicals that endanger their health, be it on a tramp in a National Park or within an urban environment. Unforgivably this is far from the truth of the situation; in cities people are consistently exposed to herbicide spraying of sidewalks and chemical fertilisers applied to playing fields and parks; and in nature to 1080 and as this story exposes the spray drift of aerial applications of herbicide. We must actively seek alternative ways to deal with what we consider pests (weeds or animals) in our environment than the outdated default position of chemical applications which we know have negative health and environmental impacts. I invite you to read about the impact of aerial spraying in West Auckland at peoplesinquiry.co.nz it includes the links to the Ombudsman's findings as well. Thanks again for reporting this story, journalist need to help hold the Government to account on these issues. I hope that you are able to follow it up with a more in depth story on the use of chemicals and their ongoing health and environmental impacts in order to continue to grow our understanding of the issues.

Ah, endometriosis. Yes, that medical condition which affects the uterus. So herbicides affect this just how exactly? Yeah right!

As Chris points out, this is a very bizarre story. There is definitely something fishy about it. Why? Because the journalist doesn't tell us how the spraying affected Caroline Leone's medical condition, which she claimed is exacerbated by herbicides, pesticides and dioxin. At the very least she should have needed to see a doctor! So why weren't we told about the medical treatment she received? She would surely have mentioned it--probably more than once. My guess is we heard nothing about it because she needed none on account of not coming into contact with the spray. The only other possible explanation is that she doesn't suffer any condition that's exacerbated by herbicides. In this case I believe what DOC's Martin Abel states.

It's irrelevant in this case what anyone believes about their vulnerablity to pesticides and chemicals, and they don't deserve to be belittled. What they did deserve was to be informed about the aerial spraying so they could make their own decision about walking into it. And there is well documented and scientific evidence about the degree of drift that occurs and DOC should know this. 1.5km is well within the drift and pest killing zone of aerially applied pesticides. NZers are far too complacent about the impact such spraying (and 1080) drops have on tourists who come from Europe where they have little or no spraying (let alone aerial spraying), These incidents do indeed do huge damage to our reputation.

How come these whale strandings in the past have been in the area of a 1080 drop does the poison got out to sea after the rains and affect the whales??? MOST LIKELY!!!

To Mr Fred Carter. I live on the boundary of Kahurangi National Park.Five years ago it was a treat to have a visit from pair of wood pidgeons and rare to hear a Morepork at night.A 1080 drop was done nearby a few years ago.Now we are regularly visited by multiple pairs of Kereru and Moreporks can be heard most nights. Coincidence?

"why ruin a good story for the sake of accuracy and truth", Because that's what the media do "sensationalize and demonize" any truth has little to do with it!.