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Water quality unaffected by 1080 - study

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Water quality unaffected by 1080 - study

3News NZ

The 1080 poison is used to control pests including possums

The 1080 poison is used to control pests including possums

The controversial possum control poison 1080 has no negative effects on surface or ground water, a study by Niwa researchers has found.

The research looked at what happens to 1080, used throughout New Zealand to control pests that spread bovine tuberculosis, when it leaches from uneaten cereal baits.

It found more than 99 percent of the toxin-laden rainwater went straight into the soil, where it was quickly broken down into harmless metabolites, rather than flowing overland into streams.

In addition, it found the level of 1080 in soil water from scattered, individual baits during normal possum control operations never exceeded a third of the Ministry of Health drinking water standard and may not be detectable.

"From these results, we can conclude that the effects of 1080 leaching from baits into soil water and stream water are highly, highly unlikely to have any adverse effects on water quality," said freshwater ecologist Dr Alastair Suren, who led a series of field trials in rugged West Coast terrain.

The study was carried out by Niwa on behalf of the Animal Health Board, the body responsible for the tuberculosis eradication programme.

The use of 1080 has been opposed by some hunters and animal rights activists.

NZN

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Comments

26/07/2012 11:01:53 p.m.

Concerned Farmer wrote:

Without Prejudice.There is no evidence, outside the laboratory, of 1080 breakdown, either in water or in soil.
How it might breakdown is restricted to a chemical equation from the chemical formula for man-made 1080. 1080 in sterile water in the lab apparently does not break down at all.
Thus the scientific conclusion is that some outside influence, a catalyst of some kind, has to be present to initiate breakdown.
In soils this could be enzymes, bacteria or more recently, micro-organisms. That is all we know.
Thing is, if breakdown happens at all, it needs heat and time. That is assuming you have the required catalyst.
In winter, when the poisoning takes place, it is accepted that breakdown will take some weeks at least. Cos it's cold.
From A.Suren's research of 2006 we discover that 1080 poison adheres quickly to water and poison baits which land in streams lose their poison within a few short hours. It is accepted that the poison from baits which have landed directly in stream water will be washed downstream within a few hours. Medical Health Authorities take water samples after the poison has washed downstream to confirm that the poison has already passed the uptake pipes and the uptake taps can be safely turned on again. Please note how these clear water samples have been used to bolster the safe water propaganda.
A.Suren's research results explode this argument completely. He found 1080 in every stream he monitored within the first 4 hours after a drop. Every stream received poisoned baits. Every stream carried a brief rush of poison. Every water sample was taken at least 24 hours after the drop when water was expected to be again clear of poison.
Thing is that the poison is known to have travelled so fast down the stream that it will reach the sea in a matter of hours. Nowhere near enough time to even begin any breakdown process even assuming all the other requirements for breakdown were present in the stream.

26/07/2012 9:56:57 p.m.

Kate wrote:

What a load of absolute bullshit! Of course tonnes of lethal poison baits broadcast over the land is going to have an effect on the soil,the water and the entire eco-system. It doesn't magically disappear. This is a male reproductive toxin and potential endocrine disruptor we're talking about, (maybe part of the reason our kiwis are having difficulty breeding in the wild??) But you only have to see who funded the research to realise why they came to these very convenient conclusions.

7/07/2012 8:27:16 a.m.

mystery wrote:

NZ has bought up all the 1080 now? Well I suppose you have to justify using it all up then. If you really cared about the environ ment, and the possums with TB (joke - coz we'd see them out in the daytime if they had TB- more pigs have TB than possums!)Anyway if you really cared about TB, then why dont you drop the TB Vaccine in pellet form rather than the 1080 poison. I know its coz its all about whos got the money invested in the 1080, and the cronyism involved. But really - who is stupid enough to believe that you have to use 1080 poison to eradicate the now non-existant TB, when you can more appropriately drop the TB vaccine!! You just want to give all the other wild life a looong sloooow, and excruciating death. Drop the vaccine not the poison you greedy idiots!