Health Dept criticised

Press, 12 July 1979, Page 4

Health Dept criticised

Until the Health Department had better qualified staff, it could not be entrusted with the health of people, the No. 3 Planning Tribunal was told yesterday. Margaret Joyce Holdem, a company director and resident of Prebbleton, was giving evidence before the tribunal which is hearing an appeal by Meadow Mushrooms, Ltd. The company wants to expand its commercial mushroom concern at Prebbleton at which the controversial gas, methyl bromide, is used as a fumigant. Mrs Holdem said the Health Department had failed to carry out adequate tests on the factory’s gas emissions during the fumigating process. She was critical of the department’s attitude towards possible contamination of Prebbleton residents who had been subject to prolonged exposure to methyl bromide and other chemicals used at the plant. Mrs Holdem told the tribunal that a thoroughbred horse had suffered convulsions and died from brain damage; healthy garden

worms had died within hours of being released in Prebbleton soil; and humans had experienced painful lesions on the skin.

Many Prebbleton residents complained of similar symptoms, all of which disappeared rapidly when they travelled out of the township, said Mrs Holdem.

Insufficient tests had been carried out by the Health Department after the residents of Prebbleton had complained of the community-wide problem, said Mrs Holdem. The department’s offer to give all concerned residents a full examination had not been taken up by most of them. It was felt the department did not know what it was doing, especially when the offer was couched in terms that indicated the problem might be “psychological” or “psychosomatic.” Mrs Holdem said the residents were angry that the department should try to pass-off widespread sickness, rashes, blisters, and skin ailments as a psychological illness.

After learning in 1976 that methyl bromide was in use at the factory, Mrs Holdem mad, tried unsuccessfully over-

seas to find data on longterm community exposure to the gas. Evidence was also given by a former Prebbleton resident, Richard Blundell Porter, who asserted that a birth defect in his daughter, aged 17 months, could have been caused by methyl bromide, a known mutagen.

Mr Porter said his daughter, who is registered with the Foundation for the Blind, was unable to focus her eyes as the retinas had failed to develop properly during pregnancy. Mr Porter said he and his family had moved to Prebbleton in 1971. Severe headaches and sinusitis, which had progressively worsened, persisted until they had moved to Tai Tapu in 1977.

The illnesses had disappeared immediately after moving, said Mr Porter. Under cross-examination by Mr C. B. Atkinson, who appeared for Meadow Mushrooms, Mr Porter said he did not know that methyl bromide had been used by the factory until 1976. When he had found out, he was “horrified,” and lodged a formal objection. Mr Porter told; Mr N. W.

Williamson, for the Health Department, that doctors had said that methyl bromide had not necessarily caused his daughter’s blindness. It may have been caused by a hereditary recessive gene or a spontaneous mutation, but methyl bromide was “a possibility.”

Mr Porter criticised assertions by the Health Department that extensive inquiries had been made among Prebbleton residents to find out if they were being adversely affected by chemicals used in the factory. Under cross-examination by Mr Atkinson, Mrs Holdem said Health Department officials had failed to test adequately emission levels from the factory. Mrs Holdem agreed with counsel that there was a group of concerned citizens in the Prebbleton township who had a “grudge” against Meadow Mushrooms. She was not happy with assurances that the company was reducing the level of methyl bromide in favour of steam sterilisation, she said. The hearing will continue at 9.15 a.m, today.