Environmentalists criticise toxics bill

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 15

Environmentalists criticise toxics bill

PA Blenheim Exposure to toxic chemicals may have catastrophic results, according to a leading environmentalist. Dr L. R. B. Mann, of Auckland, says the Toxic Substances Bill now before Parliament would “comprehensively fail as a regulatory system.” A director of the Environmental Defence Society and the Director of Environmental Studies at Auckland University; Dr Mann maintains effective legislation is necessary for the reduction of hazards from toxic chemicals. “Extensive pre-market testing of substances should be mandatory, and evaluation of chemicals at present in use must be accelerated.” His comments are made in the form of submissions to the Parliamentary’ select committee considering the new bill in Wellington and to a national seminar on pesticides at Blenheim.

They have been prepared jointly by Dr Mann and Dr I. R. B. Hardy, another noted environmentalist and member of the E.D.S. The comprehensive review of international re-

search funds says: “We are still largely ignorant of the mechanisms by which risk is effected. Exposure to toxic chemicals may have potentially catastrophic results, but it is not known just how likely Or catastrophic such risks are. “The usual situation sees benefits from the use of chemicals passing to relatively few people, especially the manufacturers. Release of chemicals into the environment, however, results in milions of people, as well as animal and plant life, being exposed to the hazards. “The results of many past mistakes of releasing chemicals into the environment before their effects were known has been documented. Occupational cancers provide a particularly poignant example.” The environmentalists say that society at all levels — individual, community, Government —

“must be prepared to undergo the sacrifices necessary to detect and prevent hazards.” The society says the ability of some chemical substances to cause leukaemia or tumours is one

of the most significant adverse effects of chemicals, and also illustrates many of the general features of their possible other long-term health effects. “About 500 chemicals have so far been shown to be carcinogenic (cancercausing) in man or animals . . .” The methods of carcinogenesis are gradually being discovered, but by’ no means are all chemicals carcinogenic, the review says. “Another feature of chemical carciogenesis is the long latent period between initial exposure to the carcinogen and the first signs of cancer, which may come as much as five or 30 years after exposure to the chemical is stopped. “In weighing potential health risks against potential benefits, it must never be forgotten that even the most far-seeing view may be proved erroneous by unexpected new scientific development. “It is obviously therefore vital to have a thorough system of periodic reassessment, with genuine power to limit or revoke registration of, for example, pesticides.”