Scientist's Pat & Quinn Whiting-O'Keefe, speaking against the poison 1080

Originally from Stanford Research Institute and University of California, San Francisco in the USA with a considerable knowledge in chemistry and an expertise in statistical inference in complex systems they have focused recently on the aerial poison drops of 1080 to kill possums. 1080 is called Sodium mono-fluoro-acetate and as a poison like cyanide, is toxic to all air-breathing organisms, but it is not an evil in itself.  The problem is with the way DoC the Department of Conservation is using it by blanketing the forest with food laced with 1080 that is attractive to most native and feral animals, everything from worms, beetles, and wetas to wekas and horses. Clean green New Zealand is unique in the world in its use of aerial 1080. No other country is doing anything remotely similar to this.  New Zealand uses over 85% of the world’s supply of 1080, a poison that is toxic to all animals, that is banned or severely restricted in most countries, and that is classified “1A, extremely hazardous” by the World Health Organization. In response to this, DoC the Department of Conservation asserts that New Zealand is in a unique ecological position, but this is simply not true. For example, the State of Hawaii has an almost identical problem with feral mammals threatening native birds, and we learned from Miles Nakahara, Forest & Wildlife branch manager that Hawaii would not even consider such a practice.  “You are pretty cavalier using a poison like that … you will destroy the forest … you will lose the very thing you are trying to save.”  Similar circumstances exist on many of the Pacific islands, and similar comments have been made by every non-Kiwi scientist that has been consulted. The perception here is that ecologists and ecological considerations are being overturned, by marketing and accountancy factors, and that a true understanding of what blanket covering of the ecology by 1080, does not qualify as ‘right practice’ or the ‘precautionary approach.’ Especially when the science is not robust. With 70 million possums nation wide being unacknowledged as a resource they are instead being poisoned and left to decompose on the forest floor. There are other ways to resolve this troublesome problem and a robust public debate needs to be convened to bring clarity as soon as possible. www.stop1080poison.comwww.thegrafboys.orgwww.kaka1080.co.nz