Comments on: Half of all tomatoes contain endosulfan. ERMA happy with this

By: greengeek

greengeek — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:25:22 +0000

This is the sort of thing that makes me WANT to vote for the green party. But I’m still held back by other green party actions that seemed to me outside of the scope of a ‘green’ policy. Oh Well.

By: merielwatts

merielwatts — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:19:42 +0000

We need to do more than just make submissions to ERMA because they are not listening. I suggest a letter to the Min of environment asking him to call-in the decisin - he has the power to override ERMA. And get onto the media and make your voice heard.

By: kahikatea

kahikatea — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:39:20 +0000

Frog said:

> Endosulfan is also a xenoestrogen

cool. Is that a hormone that will make me look like Xena?

By: BraeNZ

BraeNZ — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:53:51 +0000

What can we do?

I’m an environmental educator and keen to tell as many as I can in my network what steps we can do to lobby ERMA or whoever - what else can we do to raise the nation’s awareness of this issue?

It’s horrendous!

Jacqui Knight

By: Strings

Strings — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:31:10 +0000

Ah, the joys of the Wiki
there’sa more folks, wait, there’s more

>
>>Endosulfan is acutely neurotoxic to both insects and mammals, including humans. The US EPA classifies it as Category I: “Highly Acutely Toxic” based on a LD50 value of 30 mg/kg for female rats,[5]

while the World Health Organization classifies it as Class II “Moderately Hazardous” based on a rat LD50 of 80 mg/kg.[18]

It is a GABA-gated chloride channel antagonist, and a Ca2+, Mg2+ ATPase inhibitor. Both of these enzymes are involved in the transfer of nerve impulses. Symptoms of acute poisoning include include hyperactivity, tremors, convulsions, lack of coordination, staggering, difficulty breathing, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, unconsciousness.[7]

DOSES as low as 35 mg/kg have been documented to cause death in humans,[19] and many cases of sub-lethal poisoning have resulted in permanent brain damage.[7] Farm workers with CHRONIC endosulfan exposure are at risk of rashes and skin irritation.[5]

EPA’s acute reference dose for daily dietary exposure to endosulfan is 0.015 mg/kg for adults and 0.0015 mg/kg for children. For chronic dietary expsoure, the EPA references doses are 0.006 mg/(kg·day) and 0.0006 mg/(kg·day) for adults and children, respectively.[5]

I wonder how many of us will be exposed to a lethal dose in five lifetimes.

By: adw

adw — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:42:11 +0000

Erma are calling for public submissions - so get your voice heard and let them know we don’t think this is a suitable pesticide to be using.

By: merielwatts

merielwatts — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:48:11 +0000

Actually Meriel Watts is not a spokesperosn for Soil & Helath (used to be), but for Pesticide Action Network. But otherwise you are on the nail. ERMA have stated they did not even bother to look at risk to marine mammals like dolphins even though endosuflan is known to be highly toxic to them and to accumulate in their bodies. We support Sue K’s call for the Minister to call this decison in and leave ERMA out in the cold.

By: Andrew W

Andrew W — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:32:52 +0000

Re earthworms on bowling greens, I’d guess the little piles of worm poo can deflect the bowls.