New Zealand sports grounds getting toxic treatment
The Green Party says children are being needlessly put at risk by 18 councils around New Zealand that are spraying playing fields with a highly toxic insecticide, banned in more than 50 countries, when a safer alternative is readily available.
A Green Party survey of New Zealand’s 85 regional, district and city councils – published today along with the Greens’ toxics policy – reveals that 18 councils around the country have sprayed sports grounds with Endosulfan in the past year.
“To my knowledge New Zealand is the only country in the world that sprays Endosulfan on sports fields. Endosulfan can remain in the soil for up to six years and any skin, mouth or hand contact with the soil could cause harm,” Green Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.
Endosulfan is a highly toxic insecticide which affects people’s hormonal system, and is linked to breast cancer, endometriosis, male breast enlargement and delayed sexual maturity. It can cause birth defects, and is linked to epilepsy, autism, cerebral palsy, lowered IQ, and Parkinson’s disease.
“The councils are using Endosulfan to kill earthworms. Worm casts allegedly cause balls to bounce and reduce the effectiveness of drainage under playing fields,” Ms Kedgley says.
“But there is absolutely no need for children to be put at risk by the use of this toxic chemical, when the problem can be safely treated by simply altering the ph of the soil with acidifying fertilisers, and creating an environment the earthworms don’t like. It is completely unnecessary – Auckland City Council stopped using Endosulfan in the mid 1990s as a result of community pressure and they have managed without it for more than a decade.”
The Green Party is calling for an end to the use of Endosulfan in New Zealand as part of its toxics policy, released today.
“We want to see the precautionary principle applied to the use of highly toxic substances, and a requirement that the least toxic methods be used to manage weeds, pest and diseases. We want hazardous substances that are persistent, accumulative, highly toxic and carcinogenic to be banned, if safer practical alternatives exist. Endosulfan is all of those things and there are much safer alternatives that are demonstrably practical.”
The Greens’ toxics policy will also tackle the age-old unresolved issue of spray drift head on, preventing aerial spraying except when it is the safest, least toxic, effective, method of achieving the desired outcome. The Greens want right to know legislation so that the public are entitled to know the full ingredients list of chemicals or sprays they are exposed to.
- both these parks are sand field systems on which worm activity needs to be managed. Worm activity can contaminate or destroy the sand profile. Contamination can shorten the life of the field by half. I.e. a sand field has an approximate life of 10 years, without worm control there is the potential that they would have to be replaced every 5 years.
- Both sites are enclosed so we can and do control access to ensure that no one goes on the fields during the 24 hour withholding period.
- Its use is strictly controlled, application rates are as per label instruction and only suitably qualified staff are allowed to apply it.
- neither of these parks are located near a waterway.
| Council | Location | Note/explanations from councils |
| Dunedin City Council | Unspecified sports grounds | All chemicals were used in closed ground situations, and both fields had irrigation to wash the chemical into the soil layer, but in mist cases this chemical was applied in the raid with supplementary irrigation if required. |
| Hamilton City Council | Waikato Stadium No 1 | |
| Fred Jones Park | ||
| Seddon Park | ||
| Seddon Park practice area | The only place this type of insecticide is used is at Waikato Stadium and Seddon Park. These are high quality sand based sports fields used for national and international rugby, soccer and cricket.
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| Hauraki District Council | Paeroa No.1 Field | To control worms |
| Manawatu District Council | Kowhai Park | On three occasions on the cricket wicket to control worms. |
| Manukau City Council | Lloyd Elsmore top flat winter soccer and summer cricket area | |
| Omana Park | ||
| Rogers Park | ||
| James Watson #1 | ||
| Mountfort Park Cricket Oval and soccer area | ||
| Papatoetoe Rec Ground winter soccer fields and the cricket #1 overlay | ||
| Murdock Park # 1&2 | ||
| Mangere Domain # 1&2 | The chemical Thiodan is used on selected sports fields that have an infestation of worms detrimental to surface drainage. The chemical is mixed at 3 litres per 200 litres of water and applied at 200 litres per hectare. This application is made in the winter period and is applied once per year on these selected winter platforms. The selected platforms are mostly Sand Carpet fields and the reason for this is worms bring the castings to the surface and when played on the castings are trampled into the sand, in effect turning the field back to a solid field and inhibiting the free draining capabilities. On the solid fields we treat the worm population when this has increased to the threshold (greater than 10 worms per sample) this is done because when the castings are smeared onto the surface they in effect seal the surface thus inhibiting drainage which will compromise the amount of use the field will have. As most soil fields have winter and summer use, the benefits for summer users are a smoother surface (due to a reduced number of castings) creating a consistent ball roll in the case of cricket. | |
| Masterton District Council | Cricket Oval | |
| South Park | ||
| Sports Bowl | ||
| Memorial No1 | ||
| Sports Ground (cricket,soccer) | The council only uses this on sports turfs, not on general recreation areas or reserves. | |
| Matamata – Piako District Council | Boyd park | Applied on playing surfaces only, between seasons when grounds not in use |
| Morrinsville Recreation Ground | Applied on playing surfaces only, between seasons when grounds not in use | |
| Napier City Council | Taradale Park:cricket blocks | |
| Marewa Park: Athletics/cricket | ||
| Whitemore Park Turf trials (non-playing area) | ||
| Nelson City Council | Rutherford Park croquet courts | Within NCC Parks and Reserves, Endosulfan, the active ingredient of Thiodan has been used infrequently over the years for controlling earthworms, and therefore their casting during winter on the greens at the Waahi Taakaro Golf Course, the croquet courts at Rutherford Park and also the main oval at Trafalgar Park. Council has only ever used it when the casting has become a major issue, and only once in any year on any site and only during the winter period. |
| New Plymouth District Council | Pukekura Park sports field | |
| Yarrows Stadium sports field | ||
| Palmerston North City Council | Alexander Park | |
| Ashhurst Domain | ||
| Bill Brown | ||
| Celaeno | ||
| Cloverlea | ||
| Colquhoun | ||
| Coronation | ||
| Fitzherbert | ||
| Hokowhitu | ||
| Lincoln | ||
| Manawaroa | ||
| Memorial | ||
| Monrad | ||
| Ongley | ||
| Panierie | ||
| Papaioea | ||
| Rangitane | ||
| Savage | ||
| Skoglund | ||
| Takaro | ||
| Wallace | ||
| Waterloo | When we spray we only use qualified people and apply agrichemicals as per their current labels and the Agrichemical Code of Practise. Thionex has the active ingrediant called Endosolphan and it is used as an insecticide. For many years endosulphan has been used in the Turf industry to control worms. The rate we use, 3L/ha, is the industry accepted standard to provide a satisfactory result in the control of worms. We are aware that ERMA has reviewed the availability of endosulphan and has allowed it to remain for sale. Should endosulphan be withdrawn from the market we would have a major problem maintaining Memorial Park and Arena as these are sand base fields that need to be kept free of organic matter and soil type materials. These foriegn bodies clog the pore space in the sand severly retarding the drainage capabilities of the sand profile. Should this happen the capital expenditure in developing and maintaining these venues will be wasted. The ability of these venues to host major events, World Rugby Cup 2011, will be compromised to the extent that Palmerston North will be removed from the venues list of our tier one and two sports. Astute use of agrichemicals is strictly applied by us but the loss of endosulphan will be a major problem for us. |
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| Rodney District Council | Riverhead Memorial Park | 12 litres used on the four named parks |
| Sinclair Park | ||
| Warkworth Showgrounds | ||
| Port Albert Domain | ||
| Other unspecified sports fields | 2 litres per hectare for worm control | |
| Rotorua District Council | International Rugby Stadium | Used once a year and only if worms are bad. Its environmental state is that it degrades in the soil with a half life after 30 days. Re-entry into the area is after 24 hours. |
| Stratford District Council | Croquet Greens | We have never used these previously, but we are currently using the Thiodan to treat a worm problem at the Croquet Greens. It is applied at the recommended dose of 2 mls per litre dilution over an area of approx. 1600 m2 . There is no access by children or others, no risk to waterways etc. and the greens are currently in the off season. This is the first time we have used this after recommendation from the supplier to control this problem. |
| Wellington City Council | Alexander Rd croquets club | |
| Kelburn Park croquets club | ||
| Berhampore Golf Course | All greens | |
| Western Bay of Plenty District Council | Three different unspecified sports fields | For worm control |
| Westland District Council | Main Hokitika Sports Ground | The area is fenced off from the public and signposted for the spraying operation.
We understand that this spray is the only effective way of killing earthworms, that would otherwise damage the sand layer drainage system by mixing the underlying silts into the sand. Having spent over $200,000 on drainage improvements to the ground, Council is keen to ensure the drainage does not deteriorate and the ground return to deep mud and regular winter ground cancellations , which used to be the case. The sports ground is also used for our annual Wildfoods Festival, which brings around 20,000 people to the town in March each year, with associated economic benefits to the community. We fear that a combination of 40,000 feet and heavy rain could severely damage the ground and the reputation of the festival, if the sand layers are not maintained. After the spraying in March this year we had a complaint about sick seagulls on the ground. Council's response to the complainant was that we would monitor best practice for worm control on sand sportsgrounds and follow this in future. I am aware of work Tauranga City are doing on investigating alternative methods. |
| Whangarei District Council | Cobham Oval | Maximum twice per year although more likely once every two years |