Toxic Weedkiller Sprayed All Around Dunedin Reservoir Jan 2017

Toxic Herbicide A Danger To Health

Well, toxic herbicide such as RoundUp, which contains the especially harmful glyphosate, is bad in any measure for the environment and for the health.

But for a city reservoir to be poisoned all around the perimeter of the reservoir, to about three metres away from the water’s edge, is outrageous.

New Zealand is fast losing its clean green reputation.

I went for a walk with a friend yesterday. Wednesday the 25th January, 2017, from Brockville down to Concord. This is a fantastic walk, with many beautiful trees on the ridge, and wonderful views down to the coast.  However:

It was appalling to see the extent of the spraying around the reservoir, and also to witness the dying grass on both sides of the road, almost in a continuous line from Brockville down to Concord.  The reservoir was heavily sprayed, and so were the drains on the side of the road.  These drains run down to feed a stream at the bottom of the hill. So the water running down into this stream will be poisoned for several weeks, after which the council or their contractors will probably pour poison around the place all over again.

My guess is that Monsanto’s RoundUp was the herbicide used:  This is still the most widely used herbicide in New Zealand, to my knowledge.  It is very bad stuff – it has been banned in many parts of Europe, and environmentalists hope to get a complete ban on this poison before very long.

World Health Organization have indicated that glyphosate probably causes cancer. My experience indicates that it affects the digestive system, because it upsets the intestinal flora, which causes  candida overgrowth and consequent bowel problems.  It also causes skin troubles such as eczema, and excites the nervous system in an unfavourable way.  It is probably a contributing factor in people succumbing to diseases such as multiple scleroses, and Parkinson’s.

Exposure to glyphosate can also can affect the memory and cognitive functions in my experience.

Glyphosate and other toxic chemicals used in herbicides and pesticides have a harmful effect on our bees and other pollinating insects, as well as birds and animals too.

In my previous post, I wrote about dozens of bumble bees dying on the road and pavement at Kaikorai Valley.  This is not far away from the poisoned reservoir and the roads and drains which I witnessed today. Nicotinoid pesticides are well known for their bee-killing potential.  But glyphosate in commonly used RoundUp, a Monsanto product, also can kill insects and bees, especially when it is used in such large quantities over many kilometres of ground.

Hundreds of bumble bees, honey bees and other insects must have died in the massive spraying programme which has recently been implemented in our area. No wonder that our beehives are dying of bee colony collapse disorder.

And no wonder so many people get sick from strange viruses.  We will have this poison in our water supply for sure, after the reservoir area was sprayed. The wind carries spray particles near and far.  We all get affected one way or another.

I am going to return to the Dunedin Brockville dam tomorrow to take photos.  I will put some of these up on this page very soon.

Note:  Several people in my housing complex have had chest troubles in the past week or more. We live with a kilometre or so of the area which has been heavily sprayed. One old lady went into hospital with pneumonia.  Another has had flu-like sort of symptoms which have not developed into a real flu, but which have persisted nevertheless. I had a slight cough over the past week. After walking down these sprayed roads for an hour or so, I developed severe ear trouble by nightfall, with fluid in both ears. A severe pain began in my chest on the left side.  I took homeopathic Bryonia and Ferr phos in several doses, which has helped.  I visited the sprayed reservoir yesterday to take photos, after which a flu-like condition has manifested, with a lot of fluid on the chest.