Title: WWF critical of Australian pesticides authority for allowing reef pollution
[WWF 28 March 2012] -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says Australia’s pesticides regulator has failed in its responsibility to keep Australians safe from poisonous chemicals by allowing the continued use of the toxic herbicide Diuron. Diuron is a known carcinogen and has been linked to coral bleaching and seagrass die-back on the Great Barrier Reef (e.g., see here). It represents 80 percent of herbicide pollution pressure on the reef and has been found at levels harmful to coral up to 60 kilometres inside the World Heritage Area. The chemical watchdog – the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) – announced it would delay a decision on banning Diuron until November and maintain a limited suspension on its application. But the regulator also said it would allow its ongoing use in the Wet Tropics, where frequent large rainfall events have seen Diuron washed on to the Great Barrier Reef at quantities known to damage seagrasses.
“This is a shocking decision from the authority that is supposed to be keeping us and our environment safe from harmful chemicals,” said WWF-Australia spokesperson Nick Heath. “It is staggering that our chemical regulator has now allowed it to be used in the Wet Tropics of all places where we see rainfall events that exceed 100 millilitres for 11 months of the year. This represents nothing less than an institutional failure of an authority set up to ensure that Australians and the environment are safe from the most dangerous chemicals.”
A report released by WWF this week brings together a raft of new science that shows Diuron’s impacts on corals and seagrass meadows, the critical food source for threatened species like dugongs and turtles. It shows that just one gram of Diuron in four Olympic-sized swimming pools is enough to damage seagrasses, and that it has been found in rivers and creeks draining into the Great Barrier Reef at 55 times the safe levels, and 100 times the safe levels on the reef itself. It also showed that Diuron has a half-life of up to 500 days, which means it remains toxic in the soil across the wet and dry seasons and makes current conditions around its usage meaningless.
“What this new evidence shows is that Diuron is so persistent and so unmanageable that it is escaping paddocks and contaminating the Great Barrier Reef, despite efforts by those on the ground to do the right thing and control its use,” Mr Heath said. “Before the last federal election, Julia Gillard promised to better protect Australians and the environment from the most dangerous chemicals but here we are two years on and very little has happened. Australia’s chemical regulator still lacks the legislation, mandate and budget to keep us safe from harmful pesticides.”
