Morgan BellFreedom of Information . . . Accomplice to Poison
July 16th 2008 13:07
The future is grim for the State of Tasmania while the forestry industry is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Not content with merely logging old growth forests, is has come to light in recent years that Gunns is now in the business of poisoning the local people and animals with chemicals. The irresponsible use of chemical herbicides and pesticides such as Alphacypermethrin, Atrazine, Simazine and 1080 was shockingly uncovered by Graham Davis on Nine's Sunday program "Tasmania: Name Your Poison" which aired back in September 2004, yet the industry remains self-regulated and Gunns remains unaccountable.
What is Freedom of Information?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOI Act) came into effect in the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 December 1982 to give members of the general public the right to access official documents of the Australian Government and its agencies unless the information is exempt from release. The FOI Act also creates a right to the amendment of incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading information.
The Tasmanian Freedom of Information Act 1991 commenced on 1 January 1993. Within this Act is the exemption clause of Section 32A that states:
Forestry Tasmania is a Government Business Enterprise, an organization reliant on public funding to operate, yet it is exempt from the FOI Act under this Section 32A, excusing them from providing access to information "if it relates to the performance and exercise of the functions and powers" of the corporation.
Forestry Tasmania has chosen to participate in FOI on a voluntary basis but it is not compulsory for them to answer any questions they don't want to due to the Act. In the 2002-2003 financial year there were six FOI requests. Half were provided with full access to the information. But the other half were denied access using the exemption under the Act. What information is for public knowledge is entirely at Forestry Tasmania's discretion. This Government Business Enterprise has been exempt from complying with FOI requests for the past 10 years.
There is also the problem of severe underfunding of the Ombudsman's Office in Tasmania, who is the external reviewer for freedom of information. The Ombudsman tends to be very slow, take the maximum time limit to process requests, and claim exemptions without really justifying the necessity to claim those exemptions.
Who are Gunns Ltd?
Gunns Ltd is Australia's largest fully integrated hardwood forest products company. It owns 175,000 hectares of freehold land and manages in excess of 90,000 hectares of plantations. The company employs over 1200 people and has a turnover in excess of AUS$600 million. Gunns controls 70 per cent of the Tasmania's saw logging industry and exports 95 per cent of the state's woodchips, dominating logging in the state.
Gunns is responsible for the aggressive use of clear-felling and logging of old-growth and rainforests and the conversion of native forests into plantations. Thanks to Gunns there has been a dramatic increase in native forests turned into woodchip. As the native forests disappear, plantations take their place, replacing 200-year-old native trees with by two-week-old plantation seedlings.
While Tasmanian forests and Gunns may seem like a local issue, it has relevance to all Australians, as Gunns is a stock market darling, its share soaring from $2 to $8 in just two years, with a stranglehold on the forestry market.
Devastating Effects
For Gunns to establish its plantations, it uses a combination of pesticides and herbicides to keep native animals, insects and rival plants at bay, much of it sprayed by helicopter.
Gunns uses the pesticide 1080 which also poisons native animals. 97 000 native animals died in one year due to 1080 according to the Tasmanian Government.
1080 is an extremely toxic and variable pesticide. Its effects aren't as immediate and depending on the strength of the dose and the species, symptoms can last 1-2 hours before death. This blanket poisoning appears inhumane and is often killing the wrong animals. 1080 poisons non-target animal species including native, endangered or larger animals, and often takes secondary poisoning victims, like dogs, who eat poisoned carcasses.
In soil 1080 breaks down to trace amounts in 27days when the temperature is 23C, but will stay toxic for 80 days at 5C. Residue can last in a poisoned possum carcass for 12 months after death. It is advised to keep 1080 out of any body of water and the use of 1080 has been determined to pose a hazard to several endangered species.
The Tasmanian devil has recently fallen victim to a disease that has cut some population groups by 85 percent. A cancerous disease has spread widely through the Tasmanian devil population over the last two years, causing huge tumours that block the animals' eyesight, hearing or mouths, leaving them unable to feed and starving to death. It has been hypothesised that the herbicides and pesticides used by the forestry industry correlate with tumours and mortality in the Tasmanian devils being killed off by a mysterious facial cancer, as Tasmanian devils are scavengers that eat carcasses of other poisoned animals.
On the human side, the effect of contaminated drinking water is only just rising to the surface, in a situation straight out of Erin Brockovich. People who live near plantation areas are at risk from the drift of pesticides or of being made sick by a chemical load that's been accumulating for years due to irresponsible use of aerial spraying putting chemicals in catchment areas.
In the US Atrazine has been linked to sex changes and hormonal abnormalities in frogs due to run-off from crop spraying of the herbicide entering into nearby water bodies. Atrazine also has known links to cancer and is a chemical with a degree of persistence being detectable years after spraying has stopped. Forestry Tasmania stopped using Atrazine due to a health scare yet the herbicides Atrazine and Simazine and the pesticide Alphacypermethrin are still being detected in Gunns plantations. Just four grams of Alphacypermethrin is enough to contaminate one million cubic metres of water yet Gunns is spraying it by the kilo.
Portrait of a Self-Regulated Man
Excerpt of transcript of Davis' interview with Gunns head John Gay
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, how do you feel about protected species dying for your business?
JOHN GAY: Well, they're - there's too many of them, and we need to keep them at a reasonable level.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, why are they protected, then? Why are they classed as endangered?
JOHN GAY: Well, because the numbers are getting too great. And the ring-tailed possums is a very small proportion of this. It's usually the brush possums that are poisoned, not ring-tails.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, how can you say that, though, when you concede that this thing kills everything?
JOHN GAY: Well, that - that - everything that goes there to eat. But I believe that it is an acceptable practise.
GRAHAM DAVIS: It is acceptable?
JOHN GAY: Practise.
GRAHAM DAVIS: To knock off all the wildlife in the surrounding area so that you can put your tree seedlings in?
JOHN GAY: Yes.
Is This Necessary?
The Forestry Industry may be an important money-spinner, but it should not be a law onto itself. The Tasmanian Government needs to open Forestry Tasmania up to public scrutiny and adopt a more open approach to FOI laws. The Freedom of Information Act and Forest Practices Board need to be overhauled in efforts to improve the transparency of Tasmania's forestry practices and there is a need for an independent and impartial regulator for Tasmania's forestry industry. The entire industry should be subject to an investigation by environmental experts where information is available for open discussion and analysis.
Forestry Tasmania should not be treated any differently to any other agency. Information is currently being wrapped up in the red tape of bureaucracy, and stalling on the release of this information is giving companies like Gunns more time to contaminate the land and massacre local animals. Self-regulation is giving the nod to the Forestry Industry to act irresponsibly as they feel hidden and not subject to the consequences of being accountable.
Greater transparency would help the Government, industry and people of Tasmania move forward in the forestry debate and once Forestry is subject up to the Freedom of Information legislation concerns that have been raised about forestry and forest practises will have a better chance of being laid to rest. Under no circumstances should the Forestry Industry remain exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
© Morgan Bell 2005 (originally published in Opus)
What is Freedom of Information?
The Freedom of Information Act (FOI Act) came into effect in the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 December 1982 to give members of the general public the right to access official documents of the Australian Government and its agencies unless the information is exempt from release. The FOI Act also creates a right to the amendment of incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading information.
The Tasmanian Freedom of Information Act 1991 commenced on 1 January 1993. Within this Act is the exemption clause of Section 32A that states:
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1991 - SECT 32A
Information relating to certain commercial persons
32A. Without limiting the application of any other exemption under this Act, information is exempt information if it relates to the performance and exercise of the functions and powers of any of the following persons and does not relate to the personal affairs of a natural person:
(a) Forestry corporation established under section 6 of the Forestry Act 1920;
(b) Private Forests Tasmania established under section 4 of the Private Forests Act 1994;
(c) Civil Construction Services Corporation established under section 4 of the Civil Construction Services Corporation Act 1994.
Information relating to certain commercial persons
32A. Without limiting the application of any other exemption under this Act, information is exempt information if it relates to the performance and exercise of the functions and powers of any of the following persons and does not relate to the personal affairs of a natural person:
(a) Forestry corporation established under section 6 of the Forestry Act 1920;
(b) Private Forests Tasmania established under section 4 of the Private Forests Act 1994;
(c) Civil Construction Services Corporation established under section 4 of the Civil Construction Services Corporation Act 1994.
Forestry Tasmania is a Government Business Enterprise, an organization reliant on public funding to operate, yet it is exempt from the FOI Act under this Section 32A, excusing them from providing access to information "if it relates to the performance and exercise of the functions and powers" of the corporation.
Forestry Tasmania has chosen to participate in FOI on a voluntary basis but it is not compulsory for them to answer any questions they don't want to due to the Act. In the 2002-2003 financial year there were six FOI requests. Half were provided with full access to the information. But the other half were denied access using the exemption under the Act. What information is for public knowledge is entirely at Forestry Tasmania's discretion. This Government Business Enterprise has been exempt from complying with FOI requests for the past 10 years.
There is also the problem of severe underfunding of the Ombudsman's Office in Tasmania, who is the external reviewer for freedom of information. The Ombudsman tends to be very slow, take the maximum time limit to process requests, and claim exemptions without really justifying the necessity to claim those exemptions.
Who are Gunns Ltd?
Gunns Ltd is Australia's largest fully integrated hardwood forest products company. It owns 175,000 hectares of freehold land and manages in excess of 90,000 hectares of plantations. The company employs over 1200 people and has a turnover in excess of AUS$600 million. Gunns controls 70 per cent of the Tasmania's saw logging industry and exports 95 per cent of the state's woodchips, dominating logging in the state.
Gunns is responsible for the aggressive use of clear-felling and logging of old-growth and rainforests and the conversion of native forests into plantations. Thanks to Gunns there has been a dramatic increase in native forests turned into woodchip. As the native forests disappear, plantations take their place, replacing 200-year-old native trees with by two-week-old plantation seedlings.
While Tasmanian forests and Gunns may seem like a local issue, it has relevance to all Australians, as Gunns is a stock market darling, its share soaring from $2 to $8 in just two years, with a stranglehold on the forestry market.
Devastating Effects
For Gunns to establish its plantations, it uses a combination of pesticides and herbicides to keep native animals, insects and rival plants at bay, much of it sprayed by helicopter.
Gunns uses the pesticide 1080 which also poisons native animals. 97 000 native animals died in one year due to 1080 according to the Tasmanian Government.
1080 is an extremely toxic and variable pesticide. Its effects aren't as immediate and depending on the strength of the dose and the species, symptoms can last 1-2 hours before death. This blanket poisoning appears inhumane and is often killing the wrong animals. 1080 poisons non-target animal species including native, endangered or larger animals, and often takes secondary poisoning victims, like dogs, who eat poisoned carcasses.
In soil 1080 breaks down to trace amounts in 27days when the temperature is 23C, but will stay toxic for 80 days at 5C. Residue can last in a poisoned possum carcass for 12 months after death. It is advised to keep 1080 out of any body of water and the use of 1080 has been determined to pose a hazard to several endangered species.
The Tasmanian devil has recently fallen victim to a disease that has cut some population groups by 85 percent. A cancerous disease has spread widely through the Tasmanian devil population over the last two years, causing huge tumours that block the animals' eyesight, hearing or mouths, leaving them unable to feed and starving to death. It has been hypothesised that the herbicides and pesticides used by the forestry industry correlate with tumours and mortality in the Tasmanian devils being killed off by a mysterious facial cancer, as Tasmanian devils are scavengers that eat carcasses of other poisoned animals.
On the human side, the effect of contaminated drinking water is only just rising to the surface, in a situation straight out of Erin Brockovich. People who live near plantation areas are at risk from the drift of pesticides or of being made sick by a chemical load that's been accumulating for years due to irresponsible use of aerial spraying putting chemicals in catchment areas.
In the US Atrazine has been linked to sex changes and hormonal abnormalities in frogs due to run-off from crop spraying of the herbicide entering into nearby water bodies. Atrazine also has known links to cancer and is a chemical with a degree of persistence being detectable years after spraying has stopped. Forestry Tasmania stopped using Atrazine due to a health scare yet the herbicides Atrazine and Simazine and the pesticide Alphacypermethrin are still being detected in Gunns plantations. Just four grams of Alphacypermethrin is enough to contaminate one million cubic metres of water yet Gunns is spraying it by the kilo.
Portrait of a Self-Regulated Man
Excerpt of transcript of Davis' interview with Gunns head John Gay
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, how do you feel about protected species dying for your business?
JOHN GAY: Well, they're - there's too many of them, and we need to keep them at a reasonable level.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, why are they protected, then? Why are they classed as endangered?
JOHN GAY: Well, because the numbers are getting too great. And the ring-tailed possums is a very small proportion of this. It's usually the brush possums that are poisoned, not ring-tails.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, how can you say that, though, when you concede that this thing kills everything?
JOHN GAY: Well, that - that - everything that goes there to eat. But I believe that it is an acceptable practise.
GRAHAM DAVIS: It is acceptable?
JOHN GAY: Practise.
GRAHAM DAVIS: To knock off all the wildlife in the surrounding area so that you can put your tree seedlings in?
JOHN GAY: Yes.
Is This Necessary?
The Forestry Industry may be an important money-spinner, but it should not be a law onto itself. The Tasmanian Government needs to open Forestry Tasmania up to public scrutiny and adopt a more open approach to FOI laws. The Freedom of Information Act and Forest Practices Board need to be overhauled in efforts to improve the transparency of Tasmania's forestry practices and there is a need for an independent and impartial regulator for Tasmania's forestry industry. The entire industry should be subject to an investigation by environmental experts where information is available for open discussion and analysis.
Forestry Tasmania should not be treated any differently to any other agency. Information is currently being wrapped up in the red tape of bureaucracy, and stalling on the release of this information is giving companies like Gunns more time to contaminate the land and massacre local animals. Self-regulation is giving the nod to the Forestry Industry to act irresponsibly as they feel hidden and not subject to the consequences of being accountable.
Greater transparency would help the Government, industry and people of Tasmania move forward in the forestry debate and once Forestry is subject up to the Freedom of Information legislation concerns that have been raised about forestry and forest practises will have a better chance of being laid to rest. Under no circumstances should the Forestry Industry remain exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
© Morgan Bell 2005 (originally published in Opus)
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Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
There isn't a regulatory over sight agency to investigate illegal practices?
Exposure to the light of scrutiny certainly hasn't motivated change on their part, but lawsuits can. Financial hemorrhaging always grabs a company's attention.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
This must be brought ot the attention of the Federal government.
Morgan, why not send this on to the Minister for Agriculture, just to see what their response is, and post it here on Orble.
Also, maybe PETA would be interested in championing this cause, to rid the industry of these indiscriminate poisoning practises, also, you could bring up the hemp debate again, it is ridiculous that we are not using it.
Pamela Anderson is a willing spokesperson for PETA, adn she is returning here soon, to do some work, maybe try her too!
cheers
fog
Comment by Market Newbie
Stock Market Punk
Gunns can seal its own lips tight, but there are other sources around.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
Tasmania is a corrupt little state, the majority of people work in public service or for Gunns directly
we have agencies like the EPA but as far as i know Gunns is not obligated to cooperate with them by providing information about their practises
maybe it will be like Erin Brokovich and they will get a very big lawsuit one day!
hi Fog,
yeah unfortunately it is seen as a local issue, but it is Federal laws and agreements and the interests of the Federal GDP which allows the matter to fester
we just got a new State Premier down here but it seems like he might be in the pocket of Gunns too
maybe with the new Federal Government our Prime Minister Rudd might rethink the situation?
hi Market Newbie,
it seems like a big case of passing the buck, because Gunns are big business and big money spinners noone wants to complain too loudly
i would love to see Bob Brown and the Greens Party running this state
thanks for the comments everyone!
Comment by Louie
Climate Forum
Climate Red
randomthoughts
Phil's Wellness Tips
I am not sure if i am more astounded or disturbed by this piece, particularly the snippet of the interview where the guy blatantly just does not care about the wildlife...I almost think i would prefer it if he lied and said he cared a bit.
I hope this post stirs up more awareness of this issue.
cheers
Louie
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
i dont usually post such seriousness on Orble because there doesnt seem to be much of an audience for it, but when i read Ruby's article on the Tazzy Devil's (CLICKHERE for more . . . ) i thought i really should put this back into circulation electronically for anyone searching Google
it is quiet chilling how much some people dont care about the destruction they are causing . . . anything to make a buck!
thanks for the comment!
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
This:
GRAHAM DAVIS: Well, how do you feel about protected species dying for your business?
JOHN GAY: Well, they're - there's too many of them, and we need to keep them at a reasonable level.
belongs on the Stephen Colbert show.
Incredible. Kill our planet and rub it in all our faces.
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
haha well there really are far too many endangered species, perhaps if we exterminated a few species we could shorten the list?
i think the point Gunns isnt getting (or perhaps choosing to ignore) is that blanket baiting and spraying kills EVERYTHING . . . it may be cheaper but its extremely irresponsible
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
For goodness sakes, though, don't call on PETA for help! They'll raise Cain with you if you wear leather shoes while allowing the slaughter to continue! Those PETA people are lunatics!
Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
thanks for the info on the Northern Pike . . . i had not heard of that case of poisoning before, but then again environmental damage rarely does hit the big news
even apart from the issues with animals, poisoning waterways is a serious problem which can easily contaminate our drinking water
the EPA and fisheries departments seem to have their hands tied with these big polluters