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‘Consensus Statement of Concern’ from scientists, citizens and organisations over the Review of Australia’s pesticide regulatory framework.
During the review of Australia’s AGVET chemical regulatory framework, numerous scientists, academics, farmers, civil society and public health organisations, spoke out about Australia’s failed pesticide regulation.
The Commonwealth Government appointed a Panel in September 2019 to review Australia’s Agricultural and Veterinary (agvet) chemical regulatory system. The Panel released an issues paper on 4 March 2020 and after stakeholder consultation subsequently released a draft report and recommendations on 16 December 2020 for further consultation, which ended on 26 February 2021.
Environmental health experts, independent scientists and civil society organisations have serious concerns about the proposed recommendations of the panel. The recommendations promote greater access to AGVET chemicals through increased reliance on: industry self-regulation; third party (rather than public regulator) assessment; exemptions from full assessment for many uses, including urban uses; and new product approvals based primarily on overseas assessments but without accepting international decisions for restrictions or bans.
In effect, these recommendations would make the regulatory objective of protecting health and safety and the environment secondary to fast tracking industry’s access to new chemicals.
The Panel’s recommendations fail to address the evidence that stakeholders provided, which shows the existing regulatory system has allowed significant impacts on human health, biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems to occur. The panel’s recommendations would allow these failures to continue.
The draft report has failed to undertake robust accounting of all the costs and benefits of the proposed recommendations. The Panel did not attempt to apportion any cost to the externalised impacts of AGVET chemicals to: public health; biodiversity; ecosystem services (e.g. bee and insect pollination); natural capital degradation; potable water treatment; and fisheries productivity.
First Nations views about AGVET chemicals being used on Native Title lands, and the cultural and environmental impacts these chemicals may have on indigenous lands and waters, are notably absent from the draft report.
There were notable deficiencies in the appointed Panel’s expertise that may have contributed to the inadequate recommendations including: absence of contemporary knowledge of AGVET chemical impacts on human and environmental health; and modern regulatory options for managing AGVET
chemical risks.
You can find the consensus statement here. Consensus statement -Agvet Review Failure 12-03-2021
Toxics Free Australia is hosting some of the work of the National Toxics Network which is now retired. You can find more NTN reports in our files section.
