Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Kedgley Sue: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:15964] 
12.  
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: Does he have confidence in the advice provided by health officials about the health effects of dioxin; if so why? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 Yes because they have provided sound advice on this issue. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Does he agree with the statement by the chair of the Ministry of Health expert advisory group on dioxins reported in the  
Daily News 
 in New Plymouth that “Children excrete dioxin very quickly.” implying that even if children are exposed to dioxin there would be no risks to their health? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: Although as a mere politician I am reluctant to get into the technical details and debate with an expert—and those people are experts; that is why they were appointed—I know that dioxin is excreted from the bodies of children and adults. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Given that he has already said in an answer to a question from me that it takes up to 8 years or more for a child’s dioxin levels to return to normal after the child has been breastfed by a mother with elevated dioxin levels why has the ministry made no effort to correct that false information provided to the people of New Plymouth when it has spent 2 weeks and thousands of dollars on preparing a media strategy on the release of the dioxin tests; in other words why is there a double standard between on the one hand the enormous effort to manage the release of a report that shows cause for concern and on the other hand the lack of any attempt to correct misinformation that falsely downplays the risk to children? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I do not think we have ever at any stage downplayed the risk to children but it is important that we do not overplay the risk to children. It has been identified in a group of 24 people tested in a study so far that they do have higher levels of dioxin. I am not aware of how many of those are breastfeeding their children but if that is the case I am sure they have had adequate medical advice on that situation. We have moved very very quickly as soon as we have had sound knowledge in this area. But it is important that we have good accurate information and that we do not falsely alarm people when it is not necessary. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Given that it takes 15 years for a child’s dioxin levels to return to normal after it has been breastfed does the Minister not think it is misleading to say that children excrete dioxin very quickly and why is the ministry’s 0800 number telling people that dioxin is not transferred in breast milk when even its own website admits that it is and why is the Government’s expensive communications campaign— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member has already had two parts to that supplementary questions that started with “given that” which is out of order. That is enough. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I believe that the member has referred to two different time frames for the excretion of dioxin from children. I am not sure which one is correct but any level of dioxin in children would depend upon the amount of breastfeeding they have had in their upbringing and the level of dioxin in a parent. It is hard to say what a normal level of dioxin is. The objective of this Government and of the Ministry of Health of course is to have the very lowest level and in fact to eliminate dioxin from the body. That is not possible because it is in most normal diets. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Why is the Government’s expensive communications campaign spreading that sort of misleading information about the health risks of dioxin and does he agree that those sorts of misleading comments give the impression that the ministry is continuing its 30-year campaign to downplay and deny the risks of dioxin instead of being upfront and honest about them? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: We do not have misleading campaigns.