Ruth
DYSON
Conservation Spokesperson

11 October 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Toxic or not? We need to know

More conflicting information, this time about the dispersant being used on the oil spilling from the Rena, has added fuel to concerns about the Government’s handling of the disaster, Labour’s Conservation spokesperson Ruth Dyson says.

Maritime NZ is using Corexit 9500, a chemical mix banned in the UK, to try and disperse some of the tonnes of oil washing up on the Bay of Plenty coastline.

“Two versions of Corexit are banned in the United kingdom because of their toxicity. They have been found to be carcinogenic and mutagenic,” Ruth Dyson said.

“The Obama administration ordered BP to find another dispersant to use in its clean-up of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after congress heard evidence from BP executives and scientists on the high toxicity of Corexit – to humans and marine mammals and birds - and their relative ineffectiveness against some types of oil.

“Yet we have officials here telling us Corexit has ‘been widely tested and has very low toxicity’ and is less harmful than dishwashing liquid.

“Just as Labour has asked for honesty from the Prime Minister on the real state of the Rena, we are also looking to Environment Minister Nick Smith for reassurance that what is being sprayed around the coastline off Tauranga will have no long-term harmful effects.

“There are other less toxic dispersants available. It is not as if there are no alternatives,” Ruth Dyson said.

ends

© Scoop Media