Title: Banned pesticide among toxic cocktail discovered near school in NSW

[SMH 16/11 by Ben Cubby] -- Summary: A cocktail of dangerous chemicals, including a banned pesticide “extremely toxic to humans”, has been found in air samples on public land in the state’s central west.

NSW Environment Protection Authority testing detected a toxic stew of agricultural chemicals on public roads west of Narromine following dozens of complaints from farmers that pesticides were drifting across the landscape, killing trees and crops.

nternal government documents show that defoliation of some trees in the region west of Dubbo – around the townships of Narromine, Trangie, Warren, Gin Gin and Bundemar – is unlikely to have been caused by drought and tended to occur after cotton farms in the region sprayed their crops..

The EPA testing process detected only the presence of potentially dangerous agricultural chemicals in the air, not the quantity, so estimating any effects on human health is impossible at this stage.

“The presence of pesticides in the natural environment does not necessarily mean there is a risk to the environment or human health,” an EPA spokesperson said.

“The potential additive and cumulative effects of the nine-plus pesticides detected in some individual samples – such as one within a few kilometres of Trangie Central School – should be communicated to the local community, and the EPA must explain what action it will be taking to understand the levels of these exposures.

“To know that children may be breathing in air with this cocktail of pesticide residues is alarming.”

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Article: WeedsNews6417 (permalink)
Categories: :WeedsNews:cotton, :WeedsNews:spray drift, :WeedsNews:policy, :WeedsNews:regulatory failure, :WeedsNews:schools, :WeedsNews:herbicides
Date: 17 November 2024; 10:08:50 AM AEDT

Author Name: David Low
Author ID: adminDavid