Endosulfan Residues in Australian Beef
February 22, 1999
Australian beef has been rejected for export because of excessive
residues of endosulfan, an organochlorine insecticide. A
representative of the Australian Minister of Agriculture stated
that high endosulfan levels in beef from farms in New South Wales
and Queensland are most likely the result of increased cotton
plantings and high pesticide use to control insects. Endosulfan
residues can be found in cattle when pastures are contaminated by
pesticide drift from neighboring cotton fields or when the animals
are fed cotton gin trash containing the chemical. Cotton plantings
are expected to increase by 25% this year, to approximately
547,000 hectares.
The maximum residue level of endosulfan allowed in beef sold in
Australia is 0.2 mg/kg, twice the international (Codex) level of
0.1 mg/kg. Some beef samples taken from affected properties in
Queensland recently contained as much as 0.36 mg/kg, almost twice
the Australian limit and almost four times the international
limit.
The Australian National Residue Survey has already targeted about
1,400 cattle farms as vulnerable to contamination from cotton
spraying and the cattle raised on these farms are closely
monitored for endosulfan residues. The government has proposed an
increase in the number of targeted farms and that more information
on use of endosulfan be provided to cotton and cattle farmers.
The Australian National Registration Authority, the government
body that regulates pesticide use, has called for reductions in
endosulfan use and imposed some restrictions in an attempt to
limit worker and environmental impacts. In July 1999, growers will
be required to keep spray application records and limit
applications to two per season for non-orchard crops. An earlier
proposal to limit applications to "essential" uses was dropped
after lobbying by growers, grower groups and commodity
organizations.
These latest incidents occurred at a time when the Australian
cotton industry was about to launch its "Good Neighbors"
environmental stewardship program. Cotton Australia, the cotton
industry association, has proposed an auditing process that would
award certification to farms meeting environmental standards set
by the group.
In 1996, approximately 23 farms in New South Wales and Queensland
were placed in quarantine after inspectors discovered endosulfan
in beef cattle at levels above the maximum residue limit, possibly
due to grazing land that had been contaminated by spray drift.
Lawyers for the farmers maintained that restrictions on endosulfan
use issued by the Australian National Registration Authority were
inadequate.
Endosulfan has been banned and severely restricted in many
countries around the world as governments respond to its acute
human toxicity, and the high numbers of reported poisonings. It
has been targeted for global phaseout by pesticide reform groups
worldwide. In recent years, endosulfan has also been identified as
an endocrine disrupting chemical.
Australia has had other problems with pesticide residues in
cattle. In 1996, newborn calves in Australia were found
contaminated with hazardous levels of the insecticide Helix
(chlorfluazuron) two years after cattle were fed cotton trash
containing residues of the pesticide. Government inspectors
believed that the pesticide was passed to calves through suckling.
After finding high levels of Helix in the cattle, several
countries suspended beef imports from Australia. Due to a drought
in 1994, many Australian farmers were forced to feed cattle
alternative feeds, which in some cases included cotton trash
containing chlorfluazuron residues.
Source: Agrow: World Crop Protection News, January 15, 1999 and
August 28, 1998. PANUPS, May 20, 1996. Consumer Food News,
February 1999.
Contacts:
National Toxics Network, 47 Eugenia St., Rivett ACT 2611,
Australia; phone (61-2) 6288 5881; fax (61-2) 6288 5881; email
biomap@spirit.com.au; www.spirit.com.au/~biomap.
Consumer Food Network, 223 Logan Road, Buranda QLD 4102,
Australia; phone (61-7) 3217 3187; fax (61-7) 3217 3028; email
eco-cons@bit.net.au.
===========================================
Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
Phone: (415) 981-1771
Fax: (415) 981-1991
Email: panna@panna.org
Web: www.panna.org
To subscribe to PANUPS, send email to majordomo@igc.org
with the following text on one line: subscribe panups
To unsubscribe, use: unsubscribe panups
===========================================
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail