Australian government caught spraying highly-dangerous, illegal chemicals on fragile wetlands

Australian government caught spraying highly-dangerous, illegal chemicals on fragile wetlands

www.naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews) Australia is often reputed as having one of the most effective regulatory systems in the world for ensuring the safe use of chemicals. But it recently came to our attention that a regional government body in the state of Queensland has decided to develop its own endocrine-disrupting herbicide solution, which it is now spraying across large swaths of the area's coastal region to target an invasive weed species, that is also poisoning plants, animals and potentially even humans.

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I am not from Australia but I know many ATS members are so I figured I would share this because it could (is?) harmful to humans.

There has to be a better way of getting rid of invasive weeds then spraying dangerous chemicals over these wetlands. These chemicals are very dangerous and, according to the article, is dangerous not only to pants but also animals and possibly humans.

The chemical is Gloricide is a subsection of "Agent Orange" which is a very bad chemical compound.

Gloricide has had no testing and contains carcinogenic and endocrine distrupting chemicals such as 2,4-D that was a constituent of agent orange. Some scientists suggest this combanation could be worse than agent orange! No body knows.
www.facebook.com...

I think this is a very bad idea and I hope the Aussie gov't doesn't continue this. It could backfire very easily (if it hasn't already).

What do we think about this one ATS?

www.naturalnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

There has to be a better way of getting rid of invasive weeds then spraying dangerous chemical over these wetlands.

There is, it's called Goats.



That is too cheap and makes too much sense though.

I sure hope all the roo's and crocs are ok.. Now lets just hope these animals do not start to grow extra arms.. Lets just hope people do not start to get down with the sickness.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


Great video Jibby.

That brings another thing to mind. Animals are going to be eating these weeds/plants that are contaminated thus contaminating them. This could have some serious issues within the food chain.

-SAP-

reply to post by SloAnPainful


I have to say, if true then this is of course ridiculous, bearing in mind how much Australia touts its natural beauty spots, its attention to and care and husbandry of the natural world, and the facets of it that are present in Australias land.

However, the source of this story, NaturaNews, has a habit of spreading baseless baloney in amongst the truth it may tell. I am concerned about the legitimacy of thier output. Also, after a breif search of the interwebs, I cannot locate a source other than NaturalNews for this story (mind you, I have been awake for twenty four hours, so perhaps I am not the best judge right now).

Originally posted by SloAnPainful
[url=http://www.naturalnews.com

Naturalnews are quoting from a single article that was published in a local paper in September 2011.

I think they might wish to do more research on this before creating a screaming headline.
Are naturalnews really saying there has been no more details on this story since then, or was it that they simply couldnt be arsed looking and doing any research themselves?

reply to post by alfa1


It seems that the Aussie's started a petition on Facebook back in Sep 2011, which leads me to assume they are aware of this. So I would think that it isn't just this one newspaper.

However I am not sure exactly how current this actually is...

I haven't heard of this yet, but I did find another source, turns out it was the sunshine coast council. Chemical is Gloricide - presumably getting its name from the gloriosa lily its designed to kill.

AN ENVIRONMENTAL contractor claims Sunshine Coast council dumped him after he refused to treat aquatic weeds on sensitive dunal systems with a highly dangerous and illegal chemical cocktail.

ATP Environmental director Adam Presnell yesterday said the council had developed a product called Gloricide that was being used "widely and indiscriminately" in aquatic systems - particularly in coastal bushland conservation reserves - to control gloriosa lily.

The environmental scientist described Gloricide as being "massively high risk to life and the environment".

"There is a highly risky culture emerging in council and in the bush regeneration industry, and is starting to closely resemble chemical cowboys - kill it with chemicals anyway you can, ask questions later," he said.

Read more www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au...

Originally posted by SloAnPainful
It seems that the Aussie's started a petition on Facebook back in Sep 2011,..

I saw that as I was doing a bit of googling myself on this topic.
From what I read, back in 2011 there was a bit of "outrage", and nothing since then.

Visiting the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority, I see that Gloricide gets a mention in the minutes of some community consultation meetings last year, to be followed up, left on the "action list"... so its not resolved or decided one way or another it seems. But its clear they are aware of it for some time.

But its still poor effort by Naturalnews. If they cared, then real journalism would have at least involved getting in contact with some of the people involved, or posting a request on the facebook site or .... anything at all, but just recycling a dead story isnt the way.

Frankly I think I've already done more research on the topic than they did.

I see NaturalNews got it's headline wrong again - the Gold Coast Regional Council is NOT "the Australian government" - no matter how far Queenslanders may be up their own posteriors!

They correctly identify the GCRC in the text - so why bother with a misleading headline?

Probably because they are really jsut another MSM outlet after readers, and scarey headlines make money.

Originally posted by alfa1
But its still poor effort by Naturalnews. If they cared, then real journalism would have at least involved getting in contact with some of the people involved, or posting a request on the facebook site or .... anything at all, but just recycling a dead story isnt the way.

I agree, but they are getting it out there as opposed to not having much other info available.

Still the issue stands that this is a a problem and still is illegal.

-SAP-

reply to post by JibbyJedi

Goats are a very destructive feral pest in australia Try again ^_^

cheers mob

Meh no different than the 1080 poison issue in NZ. They dump it all over the place (they say its targeted dropping but lots of proof it goes all over the place) to kill possums, but it gets into streams and rivers, poisoning native birds (oh but blame cats for the numbers going down) , hunters dogs and the like. Then when people complain or petition to have the pellet drops stopped they simply say 'no'.

They always go for the cheapest, quickest and least difficult option regardless of what might happen (not to mention I'd bet a mill at least 1 person who green lighted it had some financial incentive behind it, ie they probably had shares or ownership in a company that makes the stuff)... their all bureaucracy after all, and they never do anything right.

I just came across this thread while researching Gloricide. I am the whistle blower that alerted Natural News to the matter. It is great to see people interested in this topic, but surprised that most people who care are not Australians.

What Sunshine Coast Regional Council are doing is mixing 2,4-D (precursor for 2,4,5-T i.e Agent Orange) with other commercial formulas into a super brew of Hormone Disrupting Herbicides. These products are being used across the whole Sunshine Coast Dunal System and mass damage to Critically Endangered Species has Occurred, please see my UTube channel Dontpoisonmeplease:

www.youtube.com...

An online petition can be found at:

www.avaaz.org...

your help would be appreciated. The Australian Government is broken down into different Legal Jurisdictions and no one in the Government is willing to explain what is going on. The CEO of the APVMA resigned/was sacked last year amidst investigations into her providing false and misleading information to me and to Parliament.

The Government at all levels is on radio silence, with the exception of Senator Heffernan who has taken the matter to Budget Senate Estimates Committee many times and again in February this year. The Senator asked 33 very important Questions which are yet to answered. To see official Correspondence go to:

parlinfo.aph.gov.au...;adv=yes;orderBy=customrank;page=0;resCount=Default;query=Gloricide

go to the 2007-2008 Estimates pdf and it is on page 11, Question 46. Previous submissions and answers are also located on the parliamentary search page through Greens Senator Siewert and Senator Black in 2012.

The matter is still ongoing and Council is still experimenting on its workers and endangered species without a valid approval. No one is Government is prepared to answer the questions, even the State and Federal Ombudsman's, which happen to be under the ministerial jurisdiction of the Queensland Premier and the Australian Prime Minister.

The new Local Mayor of the SCRC is also the ex CEO of APN Newspapers who publish the Sunshine Coast Daily (SCD), which is mentioned previously in other responses. Needless to say the SCD is not reporting on the matter any further. The Mayor is still a guest journalist who writes for the paper every Saturday. This is only the tip of the iceberg in Australia, if you want to see what's really going on here check out:

www.youtube.com...

Australia is poisoning most of its Agricultural area by fracturing gas seems and water tables, most other places are not far behind. We will not be able to support our own countries food demands, which is a first for this country.

Any one got any questions?

Is it just me, but reading through the responses thus far, it would appear as though any anyone with negative views does not disclose their name or location? Why is this, perhaps from now on anyone who would like to be negative and just try and write stuff off, should also disclose who they work for and what contracts they are under!!

The PM of Australia has about 500 media advisors, surely they are not just twiddling their thumbs around doing nothing? They are no doubt in cyberspace spreading their propaganda instead of helping Australians fulfil our International Obligations and Contracts.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi

There has to be a better way of getting rid of invasive weeds then spraying dangerous chemical over these wetlands.

There is, it's called Goats.

That is too cheap and makes too much sense though.

Goats are an introduced species as well as the weeds themselves, goats also have the ability to spread disease and cause damage to the wetlands as they are cloven hooved and native animals are soft footed.
you say the idea makes sense which is as logical as introducing cane toads to remove cane beetles, both of which are irrisponsible and lack any sense at all.

I do not agree with spraying the weeds, currently in other parts of Queensland the romoval of many invasive weeds is still done by hand.

and to starfoxxx, crocodiles do not live that far south, they are roughly 600km (372 miles) north of the sunshine coast.