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APRIL 2016
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Cadmium - the unspoken danger in our waterways - By Graham Carter
Map shows the areas on Waikato land affected by various levels of cadmium.
As Kiwis we love to get away from the city lights and take time out on the banks of a stream to fish and relax. Our rivers and lakes are our heritage, they need to stay and be kept in pristine condition for future generations. It is our personal responsibility to ensure this happens, especially while the government and local councils are extremely slow to react or to take action against pollution of all types, and regularly denigh pollution events, as large corporations, which are huge ratepayers, are responsible, But our rivers and lakes are also the places where much of what we put on our land ends up. With the intensification of farming practises, comes the problem of the run off from fertilisers,’ mainly nitrogen and phosphate. These fertilisers have created some major problems for us. Most would say the
waterways are not quite what they used to be. Anyone fishing in the 60’s and 70’s would agree with me that our waterways have become heavily polluted. Then you get policitians who say its acceptable and Recently, information on cadmium (heavy metal) levels on land, bordering some streams and rivers came across my desk, this was a new one on me, but apparently those in the know have been aware of this chemical problem since the mid 1990’s. So I began to read up on Cadmium. Here are some interesting points. In the Waikato for example, 160,000 hectares should now be officially labelled as contaminated were it not for the fact that changes to legislation in 2012 removed agricultural land from any contamination classification. Ref: Cadmium Accumulation in Waikato Soils Report: TR 2005/51, Author: Nick Kim. “Cadmium can have serious effects
on health if ingested at high enough doses. The renal cortex appears to be the most sensitive target tissue in humans, resulting in chronic kidney failure. Osteomalacia [softening of the bones] is also seen. Toxicity is in part due to cadmiums extremely long half-life in mammalian systems, being about 15 years in human kidneys, so a steady state would be achieved in 45 – 60 years of exposure [WHO, 2010b]. The ICRC has classified cadmium as carcinogenic to humans [Group 1] [IARC, 1993].” Ref: 2009 New Zealand Total Diet Study. The amount of Cadmium in superphosphate is higher than that of our trading partners. A briefing paper obtained under the Official Information Act, states: Cadmium accumulation in soils is linked to the use of phosphate fertilisers. - There is evidence that cadmium levels in New Zealand soils is increasing. - Cadmium accumulation in agriculture soils should be recognised as an emerging issue. It is with concern now that there seems to cadmium found in some of our shellfish harvested from our shores. The vast amount of cadmium obviously is coming from the phosphates that is being applied in quantity onto our farms. There is quite good evidence that from those in the industry that between 30 and 40 tonne of pure cadmium is applied to our country each and every year, some of which is ending up in the rivers and lakes, which are our recreational areas. This is a contamination which we do not need nor will we tolerate it. It is a poison. So who makes this product in New Zealand? Superphosphate is manufactured in two plants in the North Island, Mt Maunganui and near Napier. Both of these areas are adjacent to our ocean fisheries. Can the companies concerned give us an assurance that none of the cadmium in the manufacturing of superphosphate is lost into the seabed? It would be helpful to have assurance that cadmium isn’t being discharged on to the seabed. But the main fertilizer companies referred us to the Cadmium Management Group who haven’t answered our questions! The government, Councils, Ravendown and Ballance are aware of
the seriousness of cadmium presence in our soils and waterways! It is believed that soil readings are being taken from areas where cadmium readings are low and used to set the average, which in itself is misleading. Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal that occurs naturally in the environment. Humans are exposed to cadmium mostly through plantderived food. There is no safe margin of cadmium exposure and the need to lower human exposure is desperate. Cadmium produces a number of health problems and is a known carcinogen. Should we be concerned – absolutely! Would you consume food or eat a fish or shellfish, knowing that its source is likely to be highly contaminated with a heavy metal? We put a series of questions to Dr Gerald Rhys, Chair of the Cadmium Management Group, MPI. We will discuss his answers in the next issue, if he answers. It is also interesting to note that Fish and Game are investigating Cadmium in ducks, to ascertain any relevance to the drastic demise of the wild duck population. Rob Donald, Science Manager, Bay of Plenty Regional Council
stated: “We currently do not undertake water testing for cadmium.” Marlborough District Council reported that no definitive cause was established for recent eel deaths and said they don’t test for cadmium. While the Waikato Regional Council would like to know where we sourced our information, as they are unaware of the purported cadmium issues in the Waikato! The answers that we have been getting to our queries on Cadmium levels in our soils and harbouring sediment in our waterways, are pretty much what we would have expected.I would have hoped that one or two would have been a bit more honest about the issues but, these guys are pretty good at repeating the agreed mantra.For legal reasons we cannot go district by district and give out the names of farmers who have high levels of Cadmium in their soils.The relevant material has been presented to the Ministers drawing their attention to the issue and their fix was to simply change the rules to ensure that farmers in the Waikato did not have their farms declared ‘contaminated land’.A couple of years ago Campbell Live devoted a significant amount of time on TV to the Cadmium is-
sue and nothing came of that either. There are also many scientists who are really concerned about the damage we are doing to our soils. They will not speak publicly and nor will anyone else and this is the nature of the problem. The official story according to those in the industry, is that we are inside the legal guidelines for Cadmium. While this is now true, simply because those guidelines have been set at a level to accommodate the buildup of cadmium in our soils, it hasn’t always been this way. The fact that this is much higher than allowed in Europe and other countries is a matter for huge concern but our government is seemingly very content for this to remain so. Our politicians have been informed of these matters but, will not move. The only way to get the Cadmium issue addressed is for it to be publicised as far and widely as possible until the government is shamed into action by public opinion. Even then they will no doubt say the publicity will endanger our valuable agricultural exports!!! Business is business and the health and well-being of our land and people seems to be not near as important as corporate profits.