Top 10 Myths about 1080 - Part One

• That it is necessary to use 1080 because there are 70 million possums - Where does anyone get this statistic from? It's the same statistic that has been talked about for decades, but when we go into the bush after a 1080 drop, we never find evidence of huge numbers of possums. The statistic is just used to shock people into desperately accepting any means of control.
• That it is cheaper to drop 1080 aerially - This depends on what you're including in your costs, doesn't it? Aerial poisoning requires fewer workers but wouldn't it be preferable to provide work for ground-based pest-controllers, rather than having to pay the dole? Wouldn't it also be good to be able to use the possum as a sustainable resource, rather than letting them all rot out in the wilderness? The accidental poisoning of secondary animals also carries a cost, and there are far greater chances of these accidents happening in aerial drops because no one is burying the carcasses or sweeping the paths clear of baits. Ground-based operations conducted in the past have proven to be economical ways of controlling possums.