Wise move to keep lid on problem

A THREAT to contaminate baby milk formula by some lunatic anti-1080 advocates(s) is as crazy as it is frightening.

That someone would go to these extremes to make their point about the use of pest control mechanism is madness.

What they demanded was an end to the use of 1080 as a pest control by March or infant formula would be contaminated. The threat was backed up with small packets of milk powder contaminated with 1080 being sent to Federated Farmers and dairy giant Fonterra in November last year.

The repercussions of such a premeditated act go way beyond headline-grabbing. When news broke on Tuesday there were immediate questions about the threat to young lives and the potential impact on the country's dairy industry.

But except for a handful of people, no-one else knew a threat was received about four months ago. About 40,000 raw milk products were tested before Tuesday's announcement.

This threat will probably be a hoax, but wisely the police aren't treating it as such.

Security measures have been put in place in retail outlets including the major stores in Wanganui.

Apart from staying tight-lipped about the threat and going about the business of checking product, there are good reasons for not panicking the public along with vital overseas markets.

Prime Minister John Key said making the threat public now only happened because one media outlet had got wind of the threat. From that can we assume if the media didn't know no one was ever going to know?

What if the threat was real and a baby did die? Would authorities have demanded a complete news blackout?

Hoax or not, Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings is right to call the letters a "criminal threat" and "an attempt to blackmail" the country.