NZ using pesticides barred in America

New Zealand fruit and vegetable growers are using three pesticides restricted in the United States.

And New Zealand food manufacturers are allowed to use at least four food colourings not used in the US and at least two banned in Britain.

The three pesticides - diazinon, dimethoate and methamidophos - are organophosphates, which have largely replaced dangerous organochlorines such as DDT.

A fourth organophosphate, chlorpyrifos, has been banned for home garden, non-agricultural use in the United States but is widely used in New Zealand.

All uses of diazinon in the US were cancelled last year by its manufacturer, Syngenta, but the chemical is still used in New Zealand.

The makers of dimethoate have cancelled its US registration for apples, grapes, lettuce, spinach and several other crops.

Dealers are allowed to keep selling existing stocks until the end of this month.

Methamidophos, allowed in New Zealand, is on a United Nations list of chemicals banned in developed countries and needing "informed consent" of governments in countries proposing to import it.

Safe Food Campaign co-ordinator Alison White said all four chemicals were potentially dangerous for young children.

"Because of the organophosphate residues found in New Zealand in a range of fruit and vegetables, I would strongly counsel pregnant women and young children to have organic food.

"New Zealand ought to catch up with the restrictions that have been put in place by other countries, especially America."

But Vegetable and Fruitgrowers Federations executive officer Ken Robertson said use of all four chemicals was well below safety levels set by the Food Safety Authority.

He said pipfruit growers halved their use of diazinon and chlorpyrifos between 1996 and 2000, and adopted less toxic chemicals. Diazinon was mostly used for grass grub in pasture, but was also needed to control scale insects on kiwifruit and for leaf curling midge on young apple trees - well before the trees produced apples.

Dimethoate was mainly used for stockfood crops, and "minimal amounts" were used on fruit and vegetables.

Methamidophos was used to control pests on potatoes, onions, maize and sweetcorn, but it was designed to affect only the leaves and not the edible parts of the vegetables. Its use had halved in recent years.

The Food Safety Authority's toxicology and residues manager, John Reeve, said each country had to make its own assessment of the risks of chemicals, based on the pests in each place, the need for and frequency of use of each chemical, and the popularity of each fruit or vegetable in the national diet.

"Some uses will be permitted in some countries because there is a need for the product there and, because it will be commercially viable, it will be worth the registrant going to the expense and effort of registering the product in that country," he said.

"The same product may not be registered in another country for reasons such as the crop on which it is used may not be grown there, or the dietary pattern of the people living in the country may mean it is not able to be used with safety."

New Zealand allows 14 more colourings than the United States to be added to food - 47 compared with 33 - including Ponceau 4R (red), Green S, Black PN and Brown HT.

Authority spokesman Gary Bowering said these four colourings had not been banned in the US. The Food and Drug Administration had never been asked to permit them.

New Zealand also allows several colourings not permitted by Britain's Food Standards Agency.

They include Alkanet (pink) and Crocin (yellow/orange).

Robert Westhead, a spokesman for the British agency, said the former European Scientific Committee on Food considered Alkanet unsuitable for use in food in the 1970s as no biological data was available.

The committee was unable to complete an evaluation of Crocin in 1987 due to lack of toxicological data.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann said those two colourings were plant extracts that had a long history of safe use.