RE Official Information Act request WCDHB 9377
I refer to your email, dated 24 November 2019, requesting the following information under the Official Information Act from West Coast DHB in relation to 1080 aerial drops of 1080 pellets. Specifically:
As the local Medical Officer of Health authorises 1080 aerial drops of 1080 pellets:
1.What monitoring will be done to ensure there is no public health risk from the contamination of Westport beaches from dead carcasses after the 1080 drop in the headwaters of the Buller River?
The carcasses have been collected and buried. There is no public health risk, provided that people do not disturb the burial site and come into direct contact with the carcasses. As a general rule, people should avoid having direct contact with the bodies of dead animals (regardless of what has caused the animals to die), particularly when decomposition has set in.
2.As the official tests have found no 1080, as opposed to independent testing that has found presence of 1080 and other ingredients of 1080 pellets in several animal species, what possibilities will be investigated by health authorities?