Last Friday I awoke to a stunning sunny Friday in Te Puna, only to have it shattered by the sound of a groaning spray machine pouring Hicane (Hydrogen Cyanamide) all over the neighbour’s orchard.
No notification to me as required by the regional council regulators.
Today, I read about the successful conviction against Monsanto by Dewayne Johnson in the United States who believed his cancer was caused by the use of round-up. Good for you Dewayne.
What many may not realise is the active ingredient in round-up is glyphosate – the same active ingredient we pour onto avocado orchards here in the “spray of plenty”.
What damage is it doing?
Putting profit before people
I am not a scientist but I do know this much, it is a lot more than the $400 million worth of damage the kiwifruit industry has been compensated for by the class action lawsuit they filed against the NZ Government for the introduction of the PSa virus. Perhaps lawsuits like Dewayne and the kiwifruit collective is the only way to stop putting profit before people or mana before money?
When will we wake up to what we are doing to our whenua and to our own whanau?
Papatuanuku – Mother Earth is crying out to stop this madness – but are we listening?
We could be the organic capital of Aotearoa, yet we are the “spray of plenty poisons”.
It seems it’s very much the case of spray and walk away and our kids will foot the invoice that is surely coming a lot sooner than later.
By Tommy Kapai Wilson
