News media criticised by firm

Press, 23 March 1985, Page 12

News media criticised by firm

The news media are criticised in the latest annual report of Ivon Watkins-Dow, Ltd, the New Plymouth-based chemical company which makes the herbicide, 2,4,5-T. The chairman, Mr R. C. Macdonald, said that the news media too frequently generated speculation and public concern by reporting issues before time had been taken to check the facts with people who had experience and knowledge in the particular field. “The company’s stance is an open one reflecting a willingness to answer any question, within reason, which may be posed by the news media or the public,” he said.

Although some individuals were hard to please, there were signs that the safety of the company’s products, its processes, and its waste disposal methods was increasingly understood by the news media.

The cost of maintaining high safety levels for people, property, and the environment was substantial, but the group did not stop its self-imposed commitments in these areas, many of which were more stringent than Government regulations required. The managing director, Mr J. W. Plunkett, said that farmers were continuing to use significant quantities of

“The controversy about the alleged health hazards caused by the use of 2,4,5,-T has continued spasmodically, fuelled by emotional and extravagent claims and news media attention,” he said.

“This is in spite of the fact that all new published medical research and case study evidence factually support its continued use in agriculture,” he said. Ivon Watkins-Dow has provided $925,000 in its latest annual accounts for the cost of monitoring and relocating the chemical landfill at the Waireka research station, plus expenses relating to the Catchment Commission and local body hearings. As reported last July, the New Plymouth-based group agreed to move its leaking chemical dumps from Omata to a new sealed landfill site 300 m away, because chemically contaminated groundwater was leaking daily on to the Waireka foreshore from the dumps, which were put down in 1975-76.

At that time, the company said that the proposal was accepted in principle by the Health Department, Ministry of Works and Development, the Taranaki Catchment Commission, and the Taranaki County Council.