Aerial spraying plans 'outrageous', residents say

The government's programme to eradicate the painted apple moth resulted in claims of ill health. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Plans to use aerial spraying to eradicate willow in Waitakere bush are "outrageous" and will adversely affect people's health, a West Auckland residents group has claimed.

Waitakere City Council has proposed an aerial spray of Round UP G2 in parts of Te Henga Wetland, in an attempt to control invasive crack willow and grey willow trees.

The proposal follows the government's 1999-2003 aerial spraying programme in West Auckland, which used the herbicide Foray 48B (or BTK) to eradicate the painted apple moth pest. That project prompted protests from residents and claims of resulting ill health, including toxic poisoning.

West Aucklanders Against Aerial Spraying (Wasp) said today the latest proposal to spray Round Up would also be hazardous to residents' health.

"Round-Up has been shown to have endocrine and toxic effects," Chairman Helen Wiseman-Dare said.

"If the council thinks West Aucklanders are going to sit idly by while helicopters spray them with toxic chemicals again, they've got another thought coming."

Council spokesman Dai Bindoff earlier said the willow spray would be delivered by helicopter at low level and the two projects were "like chalk and cheese". He said Round Up was designed for use around water and would not affect residents.

"It is entirely in a rural area and low, targeted spraying in ideal wind conditions will ensure no impact on humans," he said.

But Wasp said today there was "no such thing as 'ideal weather conditions'".

"There will always be spray drift no matter how hard the council tries to deny it," Ms Wiseman-Dare said.

"It is outrageous that the Waitakere City Council has so little regard for the health of West Auckland residents and users of the Bethells Beach area."

Thousands of households were exposed to the spray Foray 48B up to 69 times when Maf sprayed against painted apple moth.

However, an independent report commissioned by Waitakere City Council and released in March this year found that the ingredients in the spray were not injurious to health.

It said while the spray might cause some irritation to skin, eyes and upper respiratory tract at high exposure, those effects were "unlikely to be seen in exposed communities in spray areas" because of the low concentration of the spray in the air.

Toxicologist Dr Peter Di Marco concluded residents' concerns were likely to have been caused by the spraying itself or "associated adverse media publicity".

- NZHERALD / THE AUCKLANDER