Tough Talk on 1080 The Pelorus Sound watchdog group, Pelorus Protection Inc. met with Public Health officials in Havelock today. The purpose of the meeting was to seek clarity about the process by which Public Health will assess whether the proposed aerial 1080 operation planned by Department of Conservation in the Mt Stanley-Tennyson Inlet area can go ahead and, if so, what conditions will be applied to that permission, and to provide Public Health with information to assist in that process. The officials were presented with hard hitting submissions, photographic evidence and first-hand testimony from concerned local residents. A litany of errors, incompetence, and infringements of RMA consents, MOH conditions and manufacturer’s guidelines by the Department of Conservation and its contractors in past 1080 operations was presented – leading to the obvious conclusion that the Department cannot be trusted to adhere to its own plans, let alone any conditions applied by Public Health. The officials confirmed that they were unhappy with DOC’s running of last year’s operation, and that the Department narrowly avoided being prosecuted by the Ministry – instead getting a stern warning. A resident recounted being “dusted” by 1080 while on his boat, hundreds of metres from the treatment zone – and the ongoing resulting health problems. He also recounted the death of a dog as a result of a ground-based 1080 operation in the same area, which had not been properly notified to landowners by DOC. An analysis of the Ministry of Health’s own guidelines for aerial 1080 operation revealed that the proposed Mt Stanley-Tennyson Inlet operation fails to meet basic criteria stated by the Ministry of Health in its guidelines (which reflect statements by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment). The officials agreed that they had to go back to DOC and ask some searching questions. All-in-all, it seems that DOC is going remain under pressure, not just from concerned residents, and hundreds of like-minded supporters who have signed an international petition to “Stop the Drop”, but now from the government’s own “gate-keeper” for such operations, the Public Health Service. -- A A Broad Tira Ora Estate North West Bay, Pelorus Sound Private Bag 65013, Havelock 7150 New Zealand Ph: +64 3 579 8117 tony@tira-ora-estate.com