KEY POINTS:
Alternatives to the controversial poison 1080 for the control of possums and other pests are in the pipeline but could still take years to develop, a scientist says.
Professor Charles Eason of Lincoln University said the development of a new poison called Papp, which he expects to be used in field trials on feral cats and stoats next year, was a more humane and far quicker alternative than 1080.
Professor Eason said the breakthrough with the toxin, which causes death by preventing oxygen being carried to the brain, was one of the most significant developments in pest control in the past 20 years.
But in a presentation to the Environment Waikato regional pest management committee in Hamilton yesterday, he admitted the new compound was not toxic to possums.
"There are other compounds we might look at for possums further down the track but we could still be a few years out," he said.
"It [1080] remains pivotal in broad-scale possum control and in terms of welfare we are still a long way from producing a more humane alternative for possums."
Last August, following a review, the Environmental Risk Management Authority endorsed the continuing use of 1080 - with stringent conditions.
Erma chairman Neil Walter said the poison was a "necessary evil".
A number of 1080 opponents at yesterday's meeting questioned the regional council's continued use of the poison.
Among those was Dr Hugh Barr of the New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association, who said use of the poison to control bovine tuberculosis was no longer needed as instances of the disease had fallen significantly from 300 cases in 1994 to 13 this year.
Dr Barr accused the authority of "empire-building" with the 1080 industry, saying last year's regional annual plan included a 400 per cent increase in biosecurity environmental costs over the next five years which were likely to be borne by ratepayers.
Although the figure was later challenged as incorrect by the authority's biosecurity programme manager, Kevin Collins, Dr Barr urged councillors to consider alternatives to the blanket aerial drops, which he said poisoned 98 per cent of the ecosystem.
Meanwhile, independent scientist Quinn Whiting-O'Keefe said the local use of 1080 was a "worldwide unprecedented practice".
"No other country has done or would consider doing anything remotely similar to its forest eco-systems," he said.
Mr O'Keefe doubted Department of Conservation research that 1080 did not have a major adverse effect on native species and the ecosystem, saying studies on the topics were "generally poor" so firm conclusions were impossible.
The authority's biosecurity and heritage group manager John Simmons said the majority of its possum controls did not use 1080 but the poison remained the "most realistic option" where aerial application was required for steep, forested and hard to access terrain.
