Petition against use of 2,4,5-T planned

Press, 23 April 1987, Page 8

Petition against use of 2,4,5-T planned

Wellington reporter A petition to Parliament is being launched for the immediate ban on the manufacture and use of the pesticide, 2,4,5-T. The petition is being launched by the Welling-ton-based Toxins Action Group, which hopes to attract national support The group said much evidence had been accumulated to show that the contaminant, dioxin, was inevitably present in 2,4,5-T and that It was harmful to human health

in even minute quantities. Dioxin poisoning produced a wide range of symptoms including can-, cer, birth deformities, hepatitis, asthma and allergies, the group said. Dioxin was persistent, the group said, and accumulated in the food chain, so entering breast milk where it could damage susceptible new-born babies. The problem of dioxin , disposal from 2,4,5-T" manufacture had never been entirely resolved. In April, 1986, there had

been an explosion at the 2,4,5-T plant in New Plymouth, spreading dioxin, and accidents would always happen. 2,4,5-T had been either banned or heavily restricted in other countries, the group said. The United States had cancelled its registration recently, and New Zealand’s export produce could be at . considerable risk once an . awareness developed overseas that dioxincbuld be built into , the New Zealand-produced food chain.