11. Pesticides—Safety and Government PolicySTEFFAN BROWNING (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentPesticides—Safety and Government Policy11. STEFFAN BROWNING (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Will he set a pesticide use reduction policy for Aotearoa New Zealand such as exists in many Scandinavian and EU countries?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): The Government's policy is to focus on reducing the risk and harm from pesticide use rather than any arbitrary reduction. The New Zealand situation is quite different from Europe. Our greatest environmental challenge is the threat that introduced pests pose to our unique biodiversity and as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment said we should be increasing the use of pesticides like 1080 if we are serious about ensuring the survival of our special birds like kiwi like kea and like kokako. There is actually far more harm caused by rats stoats and possums than the pesticides to control them. Our major industries like kiwifruit apples wine and other horticultural industries are making enormous progress—Steffan Browning: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: —in reducing the risk of pesticide use by using smart technology—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Is there a point of order?Steffan Browning: There was a point of order. I did ask around the reduction—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I know the question. What is the point of order?Steffan Browning: Well what was the dribble-on that was—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I accept it was a long answer—[Interruption] Order! I accept it was quite a long answer but I thought the Minister was actually making a relatively genuine attempt to explain why we would not be following a policy that is prevalent in Europe.Steffan Browning: Given that the EU has recently recommended that the highly toxic polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA) in weed killers such as Roundup be banned will he instruct the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to objectively reassess the full formulation of these products to protect New Zealanders' health; if not why not?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: This Government makes its environmental decisions on the basis of good quality independent science. The Environmental Protection Authority has responsibility for the regulation of our chemicals. The advice that it has provided to me in respect of Roundup and the active ingredient glyphosate is that there is not sufficient evidence to warrant a reassessment.Steffan Browning: When will he give us the names of the 69 herbicide products on the market that include POEA or will he continue to stand by commercial confidentiality as a reason for not telling New Zealanders that they are exposed to a chemical that has been described as deadly to human embryonic placental and umbilical cord cells?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I simply do not accept the claim by the member which contradicts the technical advice that I have received from the Environmental Protection Authority. If we are to make smart regulatory decisions about the effective management of chemicals we should follow the evidence of scientists and not of politics.Scott Simpson: What are the greatest risks posed by pesticides in New Zealand and what steps is the Government taking to address those risks?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The greatest concern that we have is older less safe pesticides and also older chemicals that are stored in farm sheds and garden sheds in deteriorating bottles and drums. That is why the Government initiated a major collection programme in 2010 the agrichemicals collection programme which has collected and appropriately destroyed 54000 tonnes of older chemicals like DDT Lindane and Dieldrin. The second priority is phasing out chemicals like some persistent organic pollutants as per the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and we are on target for phasing out those chemicals that are unsafe. I note that our agricultural industries have moved away from those—what I refer to as hard pesticides—to those that are far safer and pose very low harm and environmental risks.Steffan Browning: When the EPA reviewed the carcinogenicity of glyphosate why did it not use the independent published research but instead used a narrow selection of mostly Monsanto-funded unpublished research that did not reflect the full herbicide formulations actually used in our streets and parks?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I just simply have far more confidence in the independence and the scientific integrity of the work of the EPA than I do in the Green Party.