Ewen-Street Ian: General Debates 
Ewen-Street Ian: General Debates 
[Volume:613;Page:10156] 
 IAN EWEN-STREET (Green) 
: 
It almost beggars belief that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is still conducting an aerial blanket spray programme to eradicate the Asian gypsy moth from Hamilton. Yes I agree that the Asian gypsy moth is a destructive pest and yes we do need to eradicate it but—as my colleague Mr Woolerton has said—I question whether drenching the residents of Hamilton is the best way to do it.  
I have some facts. Firstly only one male moth has ever been found—and that was very dead! Secondly Foray 48B which is the spray being used is effective only on the caterpillar phase and not on the moth itself. Thirdly the best way to identify the extent of an infestation is by setting pheromone traps—sexual attraction traps. They are only effective on the moth phase—and that comes after the caterpillar phase. Fourthly the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry uses those last two points to justify its decision to spray—in the absence of any evidence! I ask members to think about these next two points. Firstly male egg-masses hatch simultaneously with the first leaf-buds and that happened at the beginning of September. The ministry did not even start to spray until the beginning of October so it was already too late to get the caterpillars. Secondly if any caterpillars had hatched they would have been caught in the pheromone traps. Have a guess how many have been caught in the pheromone traps! The answer is a very nice round number—none. None has been found.  
Male Asian gypsy moths hatch a week before female Asian gypsy moths. All that the ministry needed to do was have a series of pheromone traps around the infestation. Then as soon as the ministry found any moths it could say: “Yes we’ve got an infestation here. Let’s spray it.” But the ministry did not do that. It missed that weeklong window of opportunity. Overseas research shows that it takes about 20 different egg-masses to get a sustainable body of population. A single egg-mass which is what we believe we have in the Waikato is not sufficient; it will die out. The fundamental question in all of this is that if the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry does not find any moths is it because the spray was successful or because there were no moths there in the first place? We do not know the answer to that.  
So what are the human costs? People who were exposed to the spray complain about rashes allergic reactions asthma and nausea and those effects are more pronounced in the young the old and the infirm. But residents are subjected to a catch-22 because the Government refuses to tell doctors what the contents of the spray are. They have told some doctors but when the residents go to those doctors—the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry doctors—they are told that their symptoms have nothing to do with the spray. They go to their general practitioners who say: “Yes the symptoms are a result of the spray but we do not know what is in the spray therefore we can’t help you get over it.” The Health Act states: “the ministry shall have the function of improving promoting and protecting public health.” Is that happening in Hamilton? I think the answer is “No”.  
I would like to quote briefly from Martin Elliot the principal of Fraser High School—the biggest high school in Hamilton. He said: “Of the 180 staff at Fraser we have six teachers and two support staff who have side effects and reactions due to the spray that I rank as very serious. As well we have another 15 staff who are experiencing symptoms like itchy eyes rashes to their skin and light-headedness on spray days.” He went on to say: “A senior MAF official told me that our eight serious cases were an aberration.” He quoted the ministry officials as saying: “It was like contagious paranoia where people feed off the psychology of the propaganda spread by the anti-spray brigade.” Mr Elliot went on to say: “It took a lot of my self-control not to reach across the table and yank his testicles out through his throat.” I get the impression that Mr Elliot was rather excited. He went on to say: “I have been so disappointed with the MAF medical team that I have made a formal complaint to OSH and requested that independent OSH doctors assess my staff.”