Petition calls for methyl bromide ban

A petition from Nelson residents calling for the phasing out of the fumigant methyl bromide was presented this morning.

The Nelson-based group, Campaigners Against Toxic Sprays (Cats), has collected more than 1300 signatures on the petition, which urges that methyl bromide be banned in New Zealand by 2010.

Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley and Nelson-based Green MP Mike Ward planned to table the petition in Parliament today.

Ms Kedgley hoped the petition would get the attention of the next Parliament.

Use of methyl bromide as a fumigant at the Port of Nelson is controversial because of ill health and deaths suffered by workers and nearby residents.

The chemical is used to fumigate a range of imports at ports throughout New Zealand.

Cats chairwoman Claire Gulman decided to circulate a petition after being contacted by a man who believed he was poisoned by the chemical and is now on ACC.

Ms Kedgley said New Zealand had signed up to the Montreal Protocol which required methyl bromide to be phased out for all fumigation except wood because it is ozone-depleting.

"But there's no sign that this actually is happening here," Ms Kedgley said.

Ms Kedgley today told reporters use of methyl bromide had actually increased since New Zealand signed the protocol.

"Basically all our imported produce is fumigated with methyl bromide."

She said there were exemptions for strawberry growers.

Mr Ward said there were alternatives to methyl bromide, such as ozone which could be produced on site at much the same cost and was much safer.

A group of Nelson widows claim exposure to the gas might be linked to the deaths of their husbands, all of whom died from a rare degenerative brain disease -- motor neurone disease -- after working for years at the Nelson Port.

The widows were being contacted by people in other parts of the country -- including people working in ports outside Christchurch and at Tauranga -- concerned about the use of methyl bromide, Ms Kedgley said.

She said: "I'm absolutely certain that they will find that there is a link between the illnesses and methyl bromide."

Ms Kedgley said she wanted a parliamentary committee to investigate use of methyl bromide, including its health effects.

- NZPA