No changes proposed in uses of 2,4,5-T

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 15

No changes proposed in uses of 2,4,5-T

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, August 5.

“The Agricultural Chemicals Board does not propose to make any changes at present in the registered uses of 2,4,5-T,” the board’s chairman (Mr P. J. Clark) said yesterday in a radio broadcast.

He was referring to a statement by Dr R. Mann, a lecturer in biochemistry at Auckland University, who is reported to have expressed concern about the danger of accidental contamination of a farmhouse that relies on rainwater for domestic consumption. The chemical in question is an agricultural chemical used for control of gorse and other woody- plants, and has reportedly been used as a defoliant in Vietnam.

The board had available to it the same evidence that Dr Mann possessed, and had the services of many scientists and medical advisers in the interpretation of that evidence, Mr Clark said. Among the mass of published material there was nothing to show that- 2,4,5-T had been the cause of humanbirth defects—2,4,s-T had been in use for 20 years. There would be .few, if any, farmhouses in New Zealand today surrounded by gorse on which aerial application would be made, said Mr Clark. Nor could an application be made to the

roof without the farmer being aware of what had happened, and making certain that the next rain would be diverted from the tank. Mr Clark said that if Dr Mann’s own figures were used, it was simple to calculate that a pregnant farmer’s wife would need to drink 88 gallons of polluted water a day to reach the “dangerous” level. “The board has studied this issue carefully,” said Mr Clark. “Earlier this year, it required labels of products containing 2,4,5-T to bear the warning that contamination of water supplies must be avoided.

“The Application of chemicals from the air may be made only by those pilots who have special qualifications.”