1080 Documentary Wins Out Against NZ Propaganda Machine

Dirty tricks are afoot in the war against 1080 use in New Zealand. "Someone based in New Zealand" has been left with egg on their face after allegedly sending an email to the director of the AMRISTA Film network trying to "persuade" the festival organisers not to show the Graf brothers Poisoning Paradise documentary about the use of 1080 in NZ. Unfortunately the ruse backfired and the Graf brothers were sent a copy of it.


Details of the attempted coup are presented on the GrafBoys weblog, from which the following extracts are taken. This is the email in which the self confessed "very disturbed" author managed to do his/her own "dredging up":  an old, spent conviction of one of the brothers: (note: words in italics within the emails are our comments)

"To: director@swanseafilmfestival.com
Subject: Poisoning Paradise is propaganda

Dear Director

I was very disturbed to read recently that Poisoning Paradise, a film by Clyde and Steve Graf of New Zealand , is to be shown at your festival. I am concerned that audiences unfamiliar with the issue in New Zealand would not recognise this film for what it is – a blatantly biased piece of propaganda paid for by the deer hunting lobby.

The film (it would be very wrong to call this a documentary) is also made by deer hunters, one of whom has been convicted of armed robbery. The very few so-called ‘experts’ that the brothers dredge up have no scientific standing in New Zealand . The ‘research’ is not peer reviewed and goes against all other scientific research in New Zealand (see the first link below).

Despite all their efforts, and financial backing, none of the television networks (public and private) in New Zealand have agreed to screen it for the reasons listed above. (ed. now why is that?) I believe that screening this rubbish would only lend credibility to these characters, and would reflect very badly on what looks like a fine festival that you run. (ed. toadying, an adult is writing this?)

1080 is actually a critical tool in the battle to protect New Zealand ’s beloved native flora and fauna from introduced pests, and one that we cannot do without.

I have posted some links below that may be of interest and there is plenty more material that can be found.

I would appreciate it if you let me know what you decide to do on this matter.

Kind regards

Rxxxxxx Cxxxxxx"

(links are displayed on the Grafboys blog) 

Fortunately the recipient of this miserable missive saw it for was it was and allegedly copied the Grafs into the response:

"Attention: Rxxxxx Cxxxxxx. (Name removed to protect identity of writer)

Our decision to screen this documentary film within the AMRITSA Film Festival network has been made and will NOT be reversed.

AMRITSA Film Festivals are dedicated to and based upon the right of the free expression of opinion. (ed. so he noticed that the film wasn't shown on TV networks in NZ?)

This ‘right’ is one which we will hold to fast and maintain in the interest of debate.

Should YOU and or YOUR organisation (ed. this means R C was writing on behalf of their employer?) wish to present an alternative point of view to that contained within ‘Poisoning Paradise’ then we suggest you submit a ‘film’ and it would be considered for screening.

Thanks for writing

AA"

We here at E2NZ applaud that response and we wait for the "organisation" to produce its own film.

Any worldwide, legitimate debate over the aerial use of 1080 in New Zealand,

 a country that long traded on its '100% Pure' image yet is the world's largest user of the deadly poison, can only be welcomed.

It will also give us a clue as to the identity of this "organisation".  As Rolf may say "have you guessed who it is yet?"

Our readers may also be interested to read our post about the debacle over the editing/censorship of the 1080 page on Wikipedia in which references to the film were removed.

For our many other posts about toxic 1080 use in New Zealand please see those tagged '1080' - link

Today's posts - click here

1080: DOC Staffer Censors Wikipedia To Remove Anti 1080 Information

We saw something similar happen with Palmerston North's entry in Wikipedia (see P.N's Wikipedia entry censored), now a DOC employee has edited Wikipedia to remove links to anti 1080 groups. See the actual 23 July Wikipedia edits here: 'article edit' and 'link removed'. There was also a much older edit made from the same IP address on 6 Jan 2009 when a link to the' Stop 1080 Poison Group' was removed.
NZ News Yahoo

"Department of Conservation (DOC) is working to track down a staff member who deleted anti-1080 information from a Wikipedia page while at work.

The staffer deleted a reference to films against the poison on Friday from the online encyclopaedia's "1080 usage in New Zealand" page, The Press reported.

A link to the Stop 1080 Poison lobby group was also removed.

The amendments were traced to DOC through its internet protocol address.

DOC spokesman Rory Newsam told NZPA that IT staff were working to track down where on the department's 1800-computer network the deletion was made, before steps were taken to find out which staff member was involved.

It was hoped the computer used would be identified within the next 48 hours.

The action was a breach of DOC's internet-use policy, Mr Newsam said.

He was unable to say what sort of action would be taken against the employee.

The removed sentences read: "Steve and Clyde Graf have produced two DVDs about the effects of 1080 on New Zealand wildlife.

"The first, A Shadow of Doubt, released in 2006 and rated Adults Only (AO), is a 90-minute feature film. The second film, Paradise Poisoned, was released in July 2009."

Christchurch man Alan Liefting, who set up the "1080 usage in New Zealand" page last September, resurrected the information within 30 minutes.

He told The Press debate was being "stifled" by "bad-faith editing" by public servants wasting their time.

"It's not up to DOC employees to do this sort of thing."

Indeed. Surely they've got far more important things to do with their tax payer funded time than to make so many edits to Wikipedia.

You can find a link to Clyde and Steve Graf's blog here:

Poisoning Paradise - The grafboys.blogspot.com

You may be interested to read an article by Patricia Whiting-OKeefe, PhD (Chemistry), Quinn Whiting-OKeefe, BA (Chemistry, Math), MA (Math), MD, FACMI titled:

DoC & The 1080 Fraud

About a year ago we learned that DoC was routinely and indiscriminately dropping food laced with tonnes of a universal poison, 1080 into our forest ecosystems. Ostensibly, this aerial poisoning of our forests is being done to control possums. DoC asserts that only possums and other so-called “pests” are significantly poisoned. As scientists and life-long environmentalists, we were struck that this contention appears to violate the most fundamental ecological principles as well as common sense.

Is it plausible that one could drop food mixed with a poison that kills all animals into a semi-tropical ecosystem and only negatively affect possums and other “pests”? This question is particularly relevant now in light of the upcoming aerial 1080 drop into the Coromandel watershed.

In science, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We resolved to determine whether the extraordinary claims of DoC have the weight of extraordinary evidence behind them. The answer is unequivocal: they do not. After months of investigation, we found that 1080 research, almost entirely sponsored and controlled, by DoC sustained six conclusions, which given the large cost and risks of DoC’s aerial 1080 program we find truly astonishing.........read on here

The complete revision history of the censored Wikipedia page, with associated IP addresses may be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1080_usage_in_New_Zealand&action=history

See: Youtube videos

Mass Poison Drops Scheduled To Wipeout Pests (updated after death of dogs)

24 June 2009
Fresh waves of animal exterminations are to be carried out on Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands by the Department of Conservation Auckland on Friday of this week, as a break in the weather will provide suitable conditions for the first of three aerial drops of 70 tonnes of 'rat bait' over the next few months. The poison 'Pestoff 20R' containing Brodifacoum is typically used to kill rats but it also used to control larger mammalian pests such as possum.

Brodifacoum has a half life of 20-130 days and is highly lethal to mammals and birds, and extremely lethal to fish. It is a highly cumulative poison, due to its high lipophilicity and extremely slow elimination. (source Wikipedia) The estimated fatal dose for a man is 15mg and 0.25mg for a dog. Poison baits or carcasses are deadly to dogs.

UPDATE 4 August 2009: A subsequent drop was carried out in the week 9-17 July. 2 dogs have died recently and 30 others are said to be sick after visiting beaches in the Hauraki Gulf Dead fish, dolphins and penguins have been found further north on the beaches in Rodney. See news report Dogs' beach deaths spark warnings. The North Shore beaches involved - Cheltenham and Browns Bay are very close to the two islands.
Interactive map of Cheltenham and Browns Bay beaches


View Larger Map

Rat poison was also dropped on 90 islands and rock stacks in eastern Bay of Islands in June. At the time Friends of the Earth spokesperson Paul Tucker expressed his surprise that tourists were allowed back on the islands within 48 hours of the drops, saying that it was unheard of. See Project song is all go.

Any stoats, wild cats, rabbits and hedgehogs that survive on Rangitoto and Motutapu will be removed later by trapping, shooting and using dogs. New Zealand has no native land mammals other than 2 species of bat, any animals not considered to be indigenous to New Zealand will be removed from the islands to allow for a wildlife sanctuary for kaka, kiwi and takahe.

Blanket eradication of non-native animals is nothing new in New Zealand, which is the world's largest user of Sodium Fluoroacetate - also known as 1080.

Last week 370 plastic bait stations carrying 20,000 pellets of the cyanide-based pesticide Feratox were laid over 800ha on Rotorua's Mt Ngongotaha in an effort to wipe out Dama wallabies which were introduced almost 140 years ago. The wallabies are said to be a threat to native plants.

The highly contentious and widespread use of 1080 has already caused damage to the country's ecotourism industry and is contrary to the '100% Pure' image so often associated with NZ .

"Poisoning Paradise -- Ecocide in New Zealand"
Hamilton-based film-makers Clyde and Steve Graf made the above documentary in an effort to raise public awareness about the devastating effects 1080 has on New Zealand's fauna, flora and water courses.
"Largely shot in bush areas after aerial 1080 drops, the documentary "goes behind the wall of the forest and shows people the other side of the story", Clyde Graf said.

It shows falcons and other birds dying, freshwater crayfish fighting over submerged 1080 pellets, deer and pigs rotting in creeks, eels eating dead animals in waterways, dead and dying stock, and weka and bush robins picking at 1080 carcasses and baits.

Scientists, university lecturers, doctors, hunters and farmers highlight their concerns about the impact of 1080 on wildlife populations, the forest ecosystem and human health.

The Graf brothers worked on the film for eight months after seeing a weka picking at a 1080 carcass in Kahurangi National Park."

The brothers estimate that hundreds of dogs, ten thousand deer and thousands of endangered animals are killed by the poison every year. Visit their blog here: Grafboys Blog

For more about the background and the effects of 1080 see other posts on this blog: Toxic 1080 and sites such as Kaka1080.co.nz and the World Health Organisation's Data Sheet 16 on Sodium Fluoroacetate:

"1.4.4 Unintended Effects:
Very toxic to birds, domestic animals and wildlife. High risk of secondary poisoning to carnivorous and omnivorous species from eating poisoned carcasses.

2.3 Toxicity To Non-Mammalian Species:
The entries in these sections are intended to draw attention to
special risks and to give warnings of any needs for special
precautions.

2.3.1 Fish: fairly low toxicity to fish. No risk from rat baits used
in sewers discharging into natural waters.

2.3.2 Birds: very toxic to birds. Hazard from eating grain baits seems
to be low, but there have been many deaths from eating coyote baits and
from secondary poisoning.

2.3.3 Other species: it is toxic to bees, but there is no hazard under
proper conditions of use. Very toxic to wildlife generally."

New Zealand Aerial 1080 Application

"1080 baits have been used through ground based and aerial application to control possums and other non-native predators in New Zealand. New Zealand's unique fauna and flora is endangered by the rapid spread of possums, introduced into the country last century to create an industry for possum fur.

"While New Zealand's Department of Conservation Doc favors the effectiveness of aerial 1080 application, vocal critics of the application of 1080 claim: "government agencies increasingly use large scale indiscriminate aerial applications to cut costs. Large number of non-target species are destroyed as a result, including deer and native birds. Southern Boobook, a species of owl (mopoke or morepork) is particularly vulnerable through secondary poisoning."

Dead Morepork after a 1080 drop in Kahurangi National Park, New Zealand, August 2008

"A positive side effect of blanket aerial poisoning is a temporary drop in rat numbers, but they quickly recover due to the niche created by low possum numbers. The effectiveness of aerial drops is being questioned due to pockets of possum population either resistant to the compound or not taking the bait with the overall numbers bouncing back rapidly. Ground operations using bait stations with sodium fluoroacetate are not as effective as other modern target poisons such as cyanide baits."

New Zealand's Environment Risk Management Authority (ERMA) released in August 2007 its latest review of the matter. The review gives new guidelines for the use of 1080 in New Zealand and concludes that the beneficial effects of pest eradication outweigh the risks."

Warning signs to be displayed for 6 months
The report stated warning signage must be in place for 6 months after application or until it can be demonstrated that baits and carcases no longer pose a risk to dogs. It also recommended that further research be undertaken in relation to the use and effects of 1080 and into alternatives to 1080 for pest control. Research into the aquatic and soil degradation of 1080 is also called for as present data is "limited."

For today's posts see: latest posts

Poisoning Paradise - Ecocide in New Zealand

Makers of a new documentary have provided incontrovertible evidence that the continued widespread use of highly toxic Sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is having a devastating effect on New Zealand's fauna.

The film's shocking revelations about the effects of 1080 are in stark contrast to the Clean, Green, 100% Pure image that NZ tries to present to the world. The reality about some parts of NZ's environment couldn't be further from the truth.

New Zealand is the world's largest user of 1080.

The continued, widespread use of this poison should be a factor that Eco-tourists and environmentally minded visitors take into consideration before deciding to visit the country, who'd want to implicity support the continued use of this environmental toxin?

The Graff boys' blog may be found here: thegrafboys.blogspot.com

From Stuff NZ

"New Zealand's long-term use of 1080 is poisoning forest ecosystems and could drive birds and insect populations to extinction, a new documentary says.....

About 300 people packed Hokitika's Regent Theatre on Friday night for the premiere of Poisoning Paradise -- Ecocide in New Zealand.

Hamilton-based film-makers Clyde and Steve Graf said it was a tragedy the documentary had to be made.

Largely shot in bush areas after aerial 1080 drops, the documentary "goes behind the wall of the forest and shows people the other side of the story", Clyde Graf said.

It shows falcons and other birds dying, freshwater crayfish fighting over submerged 1080 pellets, deer and pigs rotting in creeks, eels eating dead animals in waterways, dead and dying stock, and weka and bush robins picking at 1080 carcasses and baits.

Scientists, university lecturers, doctors, hunters and farmers highlight their concerns about the impact of 1080 on wildlife populations, the forest ecosystem and human health.

The Graf brothers worked on the film for eight months after seeing a weka picking at a 1080 carcass in Kahurangi National Park.

"We are asking people who care about New Zealand to sit through this to get the full picture about 1080 before they make up their minds," Clyde Graf said.

Renowned aviator Sir Tim Wallis thanked the Graf brothers for their work after attending the premiere.

"What we have seen tonight is what is really happening. Thankfully, they have recorded it all, because otherwise it will remain a secret," he said.

The chairwoman of TB-Free West Coast, Helen Lash, said the movie was "thought-provoking and raised valid questions".

"I have concerns about the secondary poisoning of species, particularly after seeing freshwater crayfish fighting over 1080 baits. DOC will probably not be too happy about it, because it undermines what they do," Lash said.

However, the film was one side of the 1080 argument. Farmers struggling with bovine tuberculosis would go backwards if the aerial 1080 programme was removed, she said.

Lash said she would report to the Animal Health Board (AHB) this week on the documentary and would recommend the board view it.

"There is no point for any group to put their heads in the sand over this. We all have to sit down, look at the information and start working our way through it."

DOC communications advice manager Rory Newsam said DOC and AHB representatives attended Friday's premiere.

"They have reported that the movie raised no fresh claims or evidence. Basically, the Environmental Risk Management Authority has approved 1080 for use; it is safe to use and DOC is going to use it."

For more information on 1080 usage in New Zealand see link Wikipedia from which the following has been taken

The use of 1080 in New Zealand as a pesticide is a contentious issue, with the majority of the debate occurring between conservationists and hunters. Concerns are also raised about security of potable water supplies in areas where 1080 is applied.

Worldwide, New Zealand is the largest user of 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate). 1080 is a commonly used pesticide since it is very effective on mammals and New Zealand has no native land mammals apart from two species of bat. The first trials were carried out in New Zealand in 1954, and by 1957 its use had become widespread. 1080 baits are used through ground based and aerial application to control possums (an animal pest introduced from Australia) and other introduced mammalian pests.^[1]

New Zealand's unique fauna and flora are endangered by the rapid spread of possums, stoats and rats.^[2] Also, the possum is a vector for tuberculosis so possum numbers are controlled to prevent its spread amongst cattle and deer herds. As the possum is from the eastern states of Australia and is a mainly arboreal forager, it has never developed a resistance to sodium fluoroacetate.^{[citation needed]}

While the Department of Conservation and the Animal Health Board ^[3] favour the effectiveness of aerial 1080 application,^[4] critics of the application of 1080 claim: “agencies increasingly use large scale aerial applications to cut costs".^{[citation needed]} Opposition from hunting groups and threats by other opponents have made local agencies responsible for the use of the poison hire guards to protect their staff.^[5] Forest and Bird, the largest conservation organisation in New Zealand, advocate the use of 1080 for controlling all mammalian pests.^[6]