Endosulfan, already banned in 55 countries including all the European Union countries, is an insecticide used on a wide range of fruit and vegetables and also on sports turf in New Zealand.
“We are delighted that ERMA has overturned its earlier ‘proposed’ decision to keep using this pesticide” stated Dr Meriel Watts, Co-ordinator of the Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand. “It would have been deeply embarrassing for New Zealand to continue its use when the pesticide has entered the process for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.”
The group’s press release said Endosulfan has triggered international action because of its toxicity, persistence in the environment and its ability to accumulate up the food chain. In October the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) agreed that endosulfan meets the screening criteria for a POP, and is now undertaking a rigorous assessment preparatory to listing it for a global ban, alongside DDT and its other persistent organochlorine relatives.
“ERMA have made a real Christmas present for food safety and the environment by banning the use of endosulfan in New Zealand from January 16, 2009,” said Soil & Health spokesperson Steffan Browning in a press release.
“While we are pleased ERMA has a program of reassessment, it will take at least another five years for just the 20 worst pesticides to be looked at. In the meantime pesticides with known adverse effects on health and the environment continue to be used. ERMA must speed up reassessments by looking at groups of substances together, such as organophosphates and pesticides which are aerially sprayed.”
“New Zealand needs to be a leader in removing pesticides not a follower,” said Mr Browning, “Organic foods produced without such pesticides are the fastest growing sector of the food and beverage trade internationally and have been identified as best value products for New Zealand to be exporting.”
The citrus and tomato growing industries will be hit by the tight timeline on the ban—they have until January 16, 2009 to find an alternative.
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock told the Dominion Post that the decision and tight timeframe was “extraordinary”.
“We asked for a phase-out period of five years so a handful of industries could find sensible alternative products to use. In a couple of cases there are no alternatives. Citrus and tomato growers are going to be under huge pressure.”
The New Zealand Sports Turf Institute are saying the ban could increase closures of sports fields over the winter due to inadequate control of earthworms.
“Endosulfan is the most effective product for the control of earthworms, which are a major problem on sports turf because they create muddy conditions,” said the institute’s turf adviser, David Ormsby to the Herald.
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