'Millions might die but for chemicals’

Press, 12 April 1980, Page 1

'Millions might die but for chemicals’

Environmentalists . -who sought to ban the .use of chemicals such as 2,4,5-T received short shrift from speakers at a meeting of the agriculture section executive of North Canterbury Federated Farmers yesterday. Mr A. L. Mulholland said that the only way to deal with those who were implacably opposed to the use of these chemicals, such as the Friends of the Earth, was to show what would happen to the population of the world if such chemicals were not available. He had been told that about a million people would die in India this year from malaria because D.D.T. could not be used on ponds which were a breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. Some people might die

from gross exposure to these chemicals, but millions would die if they were not used. Holding up a Friends of the Earth booklet written by Linda Fotherby, Mr Mulholland said it was a very well written document but it was building up a case on half-truths. No proof in the world, he said, would convince the Friends of the Earth that any agricultural chemical should be used, yet they were vital to food production, both in New Zealand and in other countries. Mr Mulholland said he believed that the Agricultural Chemicals Board was a very responsible body and would ban forthwith 2,4,5-T, or any other chemical, if there was a vestige of proof that it was harmful, but so far there was no proof. The chairman (Mr K. M. Wells) said he could appreciate that people had fears about these sorts of

materials, but he felt thaf too many allowed their emotions to run away with their reason. Mr Wells said he had lost a member of his family in circumstances that could have been attributed to 2,4,5-T, but taking a broad view “if was not the problem.” Another medical problem was volved.“I think that far too many people are not looking at this in a commonsense way,” he said. The vice-chairman (Mr F. A. Bull) said that cars probably killed more people than sprays. “Should cars be banned as , well?” he asked.

Mr N. Q. Wright suggested that the North Canterbury province might emulate the example of the federation in the north that had hired a bus and taken 35 people from all factions in Wellington to see the effects of the use of 2,4,5-T on farms in Wairarapa.