Greenpeace activists have upset Fonterra’s Shareholders’ Fund meeting at the dairy giant’s Auckland HQ this morning, establishing a ‘nitrate emergency quarantine zone’ around the building and dumping 2000 litres of slime in front of the entrances.
“It’s easy for Fonterra executives in their shiny offices to ignore the growing nitrate crisis that they have caused in rural New Zealand, so we’ve brought the crisis to their front door,” says Greenpeace agriculture campaigner Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn.
“Peoples’ health is being put at risk from contaminated drinking water. Canterbury has just declared a nitrate emergency. Fonterra is responsible for this.
“Fonterra and its investors are making a killing at the expense of peoples’ health and access to safe, clean drinking water – especially in Canterbury. It’s time for Fonterra to stop disregarding the health of rural communities, and prioritising the profits of its investors. That means cutting the herd size and ending the use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.”
Greenpeace activists wearing hazmat suits labelled ‘Nitrate Emergency Quarantine Unit’ have set up a large containment tent outside the main entrance to Fonterra’s offices. They have also surrounded the building with a green slime that is similar to what is found in New Zealand rivers and lakes as a result of e coli and nitrate from intensive dairying.
A growing body of evidence shows nitrate in drinking water is linked to health problems including, bowel cancer, preterm birth and blue baby syndrome.
“New Zealand has too many cows. Fonterra’s oversized dairy farms use too much synthetic nitrogen fertiliser to feed them, leading to cow urine and fertiliser ending up in groundwater supplies, and eventually drinking water. Fonterra relies on an intensive dairying model to maximise its profits, and this way of farming is making people sick,” says Deighton-O’Flynn.
“The primary cause of the nitrate crisis is fertiliser and dairy cow urine. And yet, there are plans to add 35,000 more dairy cows to the Canterbury Plains. More cows means more nitrate contamination in rural communities’ drinking water.
“There can be no more dairy expansions, period. This is an emergency and it’s time for Fonterra to take accountability by reducing the dairy herd size immediately.”
Fonterra’s Shareholders Fund meeting comes just weeks after Greenpeace water testing revealed that many town water supplies in Southland and Canterbury communities are contaminated with nitrate at levels above those associated with preterm birth risks.
Earlier this year, Environment Canterbury declared a nitrate emergency over nitrate contamination in drinking water in an effort to address this issue. Greenpeace believes that more regional councils should follow.
Call on the Government to lower the limit for nitrates in drinking water to safe levels
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