Our local giveaway paper has a half page ad for carbendazim spraying from a helicopter.

Your truly not happy. Phoned paper. Fobbed off by adman, told by reporter to write Letter to Editor.

Submitted letter.

Today's issue has offending ad now bumped…

For those of us inclined…

Ha! My partner Peter (who developed leukamia from fungicide spray) mentioned his sore dry eyes to his GP. GP prescribed drops. Drops caused instant…

My favourite bit....

"The Painted Apple Moth eradication programme has been highly controversial. Some residents felt they were being subjected to “chemically toxic bombardment”. These fears could not be assuaged by the disclosure of the component list of…

Based on the Ombudsman’s analysis of Ms Sally Lewis’s testimony, I don’t find any reason to discount the relevance of that sample:

My consideration here is not specifically related to chloramphenicol itself, which occurs in very low…

I hear you, adjectives are ineffectual.

We were not well versed in the whole issue of pesticides....and sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock and unlearn what I now know.

Successive governments have failed to address the issue of adverse effects on humans and the general…

Hon. MARIAN HOBBS (Associate Minister for Biosecurity), on behalf of the Minister for Biosecurity: Mr Gear was taken by surprise by that question, hence his response. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has…

Mel Smith got it.

Much like advanced diabetics having to visually inspect their feet to make sure they aren't damaged. Whole lot of that in our collective future. Yay for Coke machines in schools.

indeed, having lived with one for several years

Had we known, and had we had the spare…

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). With CLL, the most common chronic adult leukemia, you may feel well for years without needing treatment.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This…

we have a great history with 2,4,5-T etc. The producers must laugh at our gullibility.

Ah. Bet nobody has ever researched that transmission method either.

Hmmmm.

When family member with leukaemia was in hospital having chemo we got quite close with the nurses…as you do under very trying circumstances. Most of the patients on that ward were being…

The numbers from medfacts.com are you seeing patterns in noise, confirmation bias. 1/256 is ONE PERSON. There's no R^2 there, it's not even a correlation,…

We do now.

Our family member who was diagnosed sits (literally) well outside the 'at risk' groups.

Having broken his neck some 40 years earlier, been an office worker, had not participated in any those risky activities/occupations......

If I developed leukaemia....it would be…

Without understanding much about the epidemiology of leukaemia, does anyone ever have a real reason to get a disease like that?

I had to check that WHO comparison I made above. There’s not too…

Until a diagnosis of a rare chronic leukaemia in a family member who had no real reason to get it.

These leukaemias are almost invariably caused by exposure to something that causes…

it was determined that acceptable levels in food could not be established.

From John’s link above:

A letter from the then-clinical head of the…

"Occupational causes of
malignant neoplasms of lymphatic
and haematopoietic tissue"

an interesting little missive from ACC.

"Potential occupational causes
should be considered in all presenting
adult cases of these diseases,
and detailed occupational histories".

"Unless providers ask questions
about occupational exposure when presented with this group
of malignancies,…

(businesses)

and you wonder what has driven our speculative property investment bonanza?
#sprayforwealth

open source, then

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (also called CLL) is a blood and bone marrow disease that usually gets worse slowly. CLL is one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. It often occurs during or after middle age; it rarely occurs in children.

Medfacts.com

Summary Statistics
Reports of CHLORAMPHENICOL…

how about being exposed to this; https://store.nzfarmsource.co.nz/catalog/bell-booth-x-spore-20l/212445

when the concentration of the active ingredient required to cause these;

http://www.pubfacts.com/detail/10633176/Evaluation-of-thresholds-for-benomyl--and-carbendazim-induced-aneuploidy-in-cultured-human-lymphocytes

is about 1000X less than the reccommended dose.

We didn't find this out until after the leukaemia was diagnosed.

Note that the citation for that is from 1987

More recently:

Chloramphenicol induces abnormal differentiation and inhibits apoptosis in activated T cells 2008.

So, basically, it's a vital and effective antibiotic that kills between 1 in 24,000 and 1 in 240,000 depending on application method, with sufficient dosage. Thought to be a rare genetic susceptibility.

It's banned in food because it's an antibiotic, and they're all banned in food. We're trying to…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/8498533/Moth-spray-cancer-appeal-thrown-out

It is worth asking why people get worried about environmental toxins?

Worik ST

I do have a bee in my bonnet about people trying to keep things secret in NZ. Would it be a stretch to compare Andertons arrogance with that of the EBs?

I guess this will be a rare instance of…

I was actually thinking that it was Russell's column was a little sneering and condescending.

Really? That certainly wasn't the intention. I was trying to get across that the hysterical people created so much noise around the issue that it was hard to tell who was seriously affected by the…

Finally a topic which is on Public Address which I could speak about with some level of actual knowledge and expertise (I'd like to think).

I've been following this for a couple of years now, watching how it's evolved and have talked to quite a few people who were…

However, there have been a lot of scarey misleading statistics around this, many propagated by folks who should know better. Stand up Tony Ryall.

A lot of the…

The MoH played down potential side effects of MeNZB too much, even if they were unlikely.

I think even that is a little euphamistic Russell. I think the MoH and the medical profession intentionally hid the potentially side effects of MeNZB (albeit unlikely). We had a right to know.

My…

Should have read (additions bolded):

Sure, you can always do better and pushing back against the huge amount of disinformation and anti-immunisation rhetoric doing the rounds was a massive job in itself. And I still wonder if some of the **really in your face 'shock…

The plain facts are this:

(1) the people who were relocated were treated with great care and dignity on all occasions, many at great cost over and above the minmum requirements – and indeed, some who…

I think sneering at peoples fears when they are keep in the dark is a pretty weak position.

Don, once more, where the hell was I doing that? I thought I was sneering at some pretty shoddy reporting, and flat out dodgy misinformation being put about by pressure groups (and…

Not a precise analogy, but it was a lot like the MeNZB vaccine – do I think the MoH could have done a better job of informing parents

Actually that is what it was *not* a lot like. As a parent I was far happier with the information and consultation,…

Not a precise analogy, but it was a lot like the MeNZB vaccine – do I think the MoH could have done a better job of informing parents

Actually that is what it was *not* a lot like. As a parent I was far happier with the information and consultation,…

And in all that they forgot to deal with the public concern. I think they could have done better but I don't think for a second they were doing anything other than what they believed was the best they could do for NZ.

And don't forget that there's 'public concern'…

I just wish they had used plain H2O and counted the complaints
There just are some people who love to complain/whine

Oh no Jacqui Dean would have had a fit

there were people in the south who thought we should just nuke the whole dam place.........

....And leave nothing alive but cockroaches, real estate salespersons and giant, man-eating, mutant painted apple moths.

And we all know who'd be coaching the All Blacks then, don't we? I giant mutant painted apple…

I don't. I think it is staggering that any government would consider spraying huge section of the population without telling them what the hell they were spraying them with.

I personally found the whole thing weird, and it made me really glad that I lived at the other end of…

....And leave nothing alive but cockroaches, real estate salespersons and giant, man-eating, mutant painted apple moths.

So no real change then? :-D

The readiness of some of those who became involved in the spray protests to attribute any medical condition, in human or animal, to the spraying is quite staggering.

I don't. I think it is staggering that any government would consider spraying huge section of the population without telling them what…

there were people in the south who thought we should just nuke the whole dam place.........

....And leave nothing alive but cockroaches, real estate salespersons and giant, man-eating, mutant painted apple moths.

On other occasions she has testified to the "disgusting cat pee smell"

So that reveals the secret ingredient in the spray: Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

And in the interests of fairness/natural justice I have to tell you there were people in the south who thought we should just nuke the whole dam place.........not my…

Illness caused by fear of spray- I can believe in that!

Absolutely. Heck witchdoctors kill folks using exactly that principle.

cheers
Bart (I'm sure I'm me now)

Brent and Bart are almost exactly the same, starts with a B ends with a T has an R in it – ah close enough.

Our friends frequently call us by each others names :).

cheers
Brent no Bart no....arrggh

One reason that the formulation is "commercially sensitive" is that spray formulations that use Bt are very common and all pretty much exactly the same in effectiveness. So the only way the company can differentiate its product as "better" is to have some secret ingredient,…

I can't actually find any reference…

I wonder what people believe is in this " insecticide"

I'm afraid that's commercially sensitive.

The formulation of Foray 48B is highly confidential and the supplier of the product is not willing to have the details disclosed...

However, MAF and the supplier do recognise there is strong public interest in the…

BTK, the spray ingredient, is one of the few insecticides used by organic farmers – it's a bacteria that needs to be activated by insects' alkaline gut. Humans can't ingest it, our stomach acids don't permit it. Neither can animals.…