CROP SPRAYING AND THE HEALTH OF RESIDENTS AND

1,35
MB BYSTANDERS

184
stron

5179
ID Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

2005
rok

Contents

CHAPTER 1 • Introduction 1

Request from the Minister 1

Pesticides and health 2

Resident and bystander exposure to agricultural pesticide spray 5

Bystander exposure: concern and activity in other countries 11

Evidence 12

Structure of the report 14

CHAPTER 2 • Pesticide spraying and health 15

Introduction 15

Health effects attributed to pesticides 16

Toxicology 25

Monitoring 30

Health effects, monitoring and reporting 35

Conclusions 42

CHAPTER 3 • Exposure 44

Current application practice 44

Routes of exposure 45

Exposure calculations made by and for the PSD and ACP 54

Discussion of the PSD exposure calculations and of the conclusions drawn by ACP 57

The Green Code 59

Conclusions 60

CHAPTER 4 • Legal liability for pesticide exposure 62

Tortious liability 62

Pervasive problems in establishing liability 66

Related legal issues 68

The role of the legal system 70

CHAPTER 5 • The governance of agricultural pesticides 71

Agricultural pesticides regulation 71

The approvals process for agricultural pesticides 72

The operation of the ACP and the PSD 77

The use of agricultural pesticides: statutory requirements and the Green Code 87

Monitoring and enforcement of agricultural pesticides regulations 95

Other policies and non-governmental schemes affecting the use of pesticides 96

The economic impact of our recommendations 101

Conclusions 103

CHAPTER 6 • Conclusions and recommendations 104

Scientific evidence 104

Health issues 104

Exposure assessment 106

Risk assessment 106

Governance issues 107

Public information 107

Economic issues 107

Recommendations 108

REFERENCES 113

APPENDIX A - Ministerial statement 127

APPENDIX B - Announcement of study and invitation to submit evidence 129

APPENDIX C - Conduct of the study 131

APPENDIX D - Public meeting 137

APPENDIX E - Pesticides: an explanatory note 140

APPENDIX F - Chronic fatigue syndrome 145

APPENDIX G - Multiple chemical sensitivity 147

APPENDIX H - Applications of magnetic resonance spectroscopy to toxicology and the clinical

assessment of the impact of pesticides 150

APPENDIX I - Lessons from the Gulf war syndrome 152

APPENDIX J - Green card pilot scheme 155

APPENDIX K - Pesticide data packages 157

Glossary 160

Acronyms 170