Move against 2,4,5-T

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 13

Move against 2,4,5-T

From

DIANA DEKKER

in London

The British Transport and General Workers Union (T.G.W.U.), intends to try to stop the manufacture of the herbicide, 2,4,5-T, in New Zealand. Mr Chris Kaufman, an executive of the union, said that his union would be approaching union officials in New Zealand in an attempt to put pressure on the manufacturer to cease production. New Zealand is believed to be the only country still manufacturing 2,4,5-T.

The New Zealand manufacturer is Ivon Watkins, a subsidiary of the giant American company, Dow Chemicals, which last year gave up a SUSIO million fight against conservationists to continue marketing 2,4,5-T.

The T.G.W.U. has campaigned against the pesticide for the last five years.

The decision to press for an end to manufacture of the herbicide in New Zealand came after the release of a T.G.W.U. report, “2,4,5-

T: weedkiller warning,” in London last week.

The report condemned the British Government’s refusal to ban the use of 2,4,5T in Britain, where, though it is no longer made, it is still readily available from hip stocks In the report the T.G.W.U. lists 27 cases of death, cancer, birth deformities, miscarriages and skin diseases among people who have beeen in contact with 2,4,5T.

It draws analogies with Agent Orange, which contains 2,4,5-T and was used to defoliate jungles in the Vietnam War. It points out that Vietnam War veterans have just received the largest settlement in legal history. Veterans were awarded SUSIBO million by leading chemical companies, including Dow, after claims of medical problems after contact with Agent Orange. The report notes that Britain is one of the few countries which have not banned or severely restricted the use of 2,4,5-T. The campaign to force the British Government to do so began when Mr Kauf-

man published a dossier called, ‘“Not one minute longer.” Five years on, he says in the latest report, the position is very different. Five years of constant campaigning have resulted in 2,4,5-T and its hazards continually being presented to the public. “In the autumn of 1983 the last major firm manufacturing in base chemical, Dow, ‘threw in the sponge’ in the w r ords of the ‘New York Times’ and stopped making it. “New Zealand is the only country in the world still known to be manufacturing 2,4,5-T. “Those who used it in their formulations have decreased — for instance Boots no longer offers it for sale, and after increased publicity, Denis Thatcher’s firm, Chipman’s, ceased to use it in 1981.” The report says that the use of 2,4,5-T is banned in some European countries and more than 100 British authorities, including British Rail and the National Coal Board, are committed to using other weedkillers.