1080 & HONEY

The following headline introduced a letter in the latest Organic NZ magazine:

1080 stops organic honey exports to USA

The author then tells his story.....

"I was audited in September 2009 by AsureQuality to make sure my honey
meets the standarts for the USDA National Organic Program ( NOP).

The standards are:

1/ All apiaries must be 3km from any farming operation, or forestry. The
area must be wild managed.

2/ No formic or oxalic acid is allowed for control of varroa.

3/ Sugar feeding is allowed (organically certiefied sugar)

I met all the above criteria. I told AsureQuality that both sites had been
subject to areal 1080 drops.
This then stopped me exporting honey to the USA using the USDA NOPs label.
So the message for banning 1080 must get international publicity.
No one can meet the NOP standart- AsureQuality or Bio Gro. " Ends.


This is an issue that was going to be raised in Poisoning Paradise, but it was culled because we weren't aware of any incidents affecting the industry directly.

1080 is highly toxic to insects, including bees. The late invertebrate specialist, Mike Meads (1938-2009), found that when a 1080 operation is undertaken, dust and particles (which are clearly visable in several scenes in Poisoning Paradise) are enough to kill invertebrates on the ground, weeks after the drop. Meads recommended, back in 1994, that long term studies should be done in regard to the effects of 1080 on inverebrates. When we interviewed him he said...."In 1994, when I did my study, I recommended long term studies should be done.....it's now 2008, have any studies been done?...not a one!"

On 3 occasions while filming PP, we came across behives that had had 1080 dropped directly onto them, or within a few hundred metres.

We filmed one episode in Thames, where the bait was dropped directly onto the live hives.
Another episode was in Oamaru. In that instant, we filmed 6 weeks after the drop, and there were piles of dead bees around the hives. This was around winter time. What killed the bees is unknown, as they were not tested.

Another incident was near St Arnaud, where 1080 pellets were dropped directly onto snow covered hives. This drop was undertaken straight after a fresh snow fall, and the baits were dropped directly into the snow. It probably equates to dropping directly into water, when you think about it.

There are many rural industries affected by the use of aerial poisoning operations, some we are probably not even aware of...yet. Taking these issues into account, surely the use of 1080 in a small country like New Zealand with an image to uphold, makes it a foolhardy practice!