Steffan Browning

Wellington, Nov 6 NZPA - Proposals by staff at the national regulatory watchdog on hazardous chemicals for continued use of methyl bromide are "reckless" with little regard for human and environmental safety, a lobbyist says.

"Releasing a gas that seriously depletes our ozone layer and is a known neurotoxin, and allowing bystanders to be as close as 50m from the release of up to 1000kg of that gas, is outrageous," Soil and Health spokesman Steffan Browning, said

The lobby supports organic agriculture and has criticised use of some chemicals in agriculture and food.

The nation is using 170 tonnes of methyl bromide annually -- most of it to fumigate logs and other timber exports -- and staff at the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) have recommended that its continued use be allowed for another 10 years.

About 69 percent of the gas is used just for logs, and often the gas is simply vented to the air from under tarpaulins or ship holds following each fumigation, with smaller amounts being released from containers used for fumigation of imported and export goods.

"Fumigators are only making assumptions of where this invisible, odourless and dangerous fumigant will go," said Mr Browning.

The authority has asked for public submissions on methyl bromide use, and plans to announce its decision next year, but Mr Browning said the proposals from its staff showed it was failing the community in terms of environmental and health safety.

He said the re-assessment came at a time when log exports were soaring and use of methyl bromide expanding.

New Zealand capped use of methyl bromide at 150 tonnes in 1995 and announced that its use would be phased out by 2010, because of Montreal Protocol rules to protect the Earth's ozone layer.

Mr Browning said the nation was using close to 10 times the amount of methyl bromide gas it was in 2001, and that Erma had put too much focus on economic issues.

"Environmental and human safety hazards are clearly secondary to New Zealand's big business interests," Mr Browning said.

Soil and Health was not opposed to the use of methyl bromide for fumigation for biosecurity purposes but the release of hundreds of tonnes of the extremely toxic gas near local communities and its inevitable effect on climate change was unacceptable.

Gas used in treating cargo should be re-captured. This was already being done at Port Nelson after a group of widows whose husbands worked there and died of motor neurone disease blamed the gas for causing the illness.

"With Erma's `chemical cowboy' approach, New Zealand is once again demeaning its clean, green 100 percent pure reputation," he said.