Protagoras is so far off topic and into her favorite conspiracy theories again.

" this is a prime example of why the public urgently requires the assistance of Australia’s academics" such as the philosophy professors I assume.

http://www.fwpa.com.au/Resources/RD/Reports/FWPpestreport.pdf?c=2&pn=PN06.4016

Of the pesticides used all but one is used in food production. 5 of these are readily available off the shelf in hardware stores, and the rest in bulk from agricultural suppliers.

Protagorus
Re chemicals: I am correct in saying that probably the most commonly used in plantation is freely available - that is RoundUp (active ingredient Glyphosate) which is widely used by home gardeners.

Perhaps you are the one needing to apologise for failing to mention several key points from the same FWPRDC report you have referred to, including:

"Plantation forestry .... accounts for just 0.7% of Australia's annual
pesticide use"

"All bar one of the pesticides used in plantation forestry are also used in food production systems (the other one is used in other industrial uses)"

"Pesticide use in plantation forests is mostly limited to just the first one or two years of the life of the plantation, which can be 30+ years"

"Aerial application of pesticides in plantation forestry accounts for around 0.5% of the annual area of land treated by aerial application each year"

"Environmental monitoring is generally conducted on a risk management basis by individual plantation managers. Where conducted on a systematic basis, water monitoring on a whole-of-catchment basis in Tasmania has shown few detections of chemical pesticides from any source"

You said: "..... the public urgently requires the assistance of Australia’s academics who are proficient in research techniques and are privy to additional and important information...."

No-one disagrees that academics acting in their field of expertise are critically important, but acting outside their expertise can be dangerous and unhelpful, particularly when it is politically motivated.

You said: "while on the other hand, we Joe Citizens continue to be duped by corrupt, industry aligned governments and are forcefed corporate spin, peddled by rogue industries"

As you are clearly into conspiracy theories which are unhelpful in being able to conduct a rational dialogue, there is no point in engaging further with you.

"As you are clearly into conspiracy theories which are unhelpful in being able to conduct a rational dialogue, there is no point in engaging further with you."

No worries Mark - I'll just prattle along with a few more "conspiracy theories":

I understand that the Bureau of Rural Science advised that Tasmania ran up the country’s largest area of new plantation in 2008, with 27% of the total from slightly less than 0.9 of Australia’s land mass.

The most recent State of the Environment Report (SOE) for Tasmania paints a somewhat dismal and extremely vague picture which indicates that monitoring in several areas of Tasmania's environment has been scant indeed:

1. The impact from bushfires and regeneration burns on air quality is not well understood.

2. Monitoring of groundwater is not sufficient to establish groundwater condition in relation to quantity or quality.

3. The reduction in the native forest estate between 1997–98 and 2007–08 was approximately 132,120 ha (multiply by 2.47 for conversion to acres)

4. There is uncertainty about the condition of many native animal populations.

5. In total, 608 species of plant and animal are listed as threatened in Tasmania (WA’s SOE lists 561 plants and animals as threatened. The S/W of WA is officially listed as one of the planet’s biodiversity hotspots – huh? Why not Tasmania too?)

6. It is not possible to report on the state or trends in the condition of Tasmania’s estuarine, coastal and marine environments because they have been incompletely described and inconsistently monitored.

7. Seven of the 20 Weeds of National Significance species are in Tasmania. Between 2001–07 the number of declared weeds increased from 86 to 102. The introduced soil-borne root rot disease, Phytophthora, is the most significant biotic fungal threat to native vegetation.

8. Effects of animal pests and native animal diseases on Tasmania’s native plants, animals and ecosystems are increasing (So much for the 1080 bait!)

David Obendorf is a veterinarian specialising in study of animal disease. He came to Tasmania in the early 1980’s and has a special interest in diseases of wildlife. In 1994 he was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Animal Health Body - the Office of International Epizootics - in recognition of his wild disease expertise.

Obendorf wrote an article titled “Poisoned Island” and has more recently referred to former Minister, David Llewellyn as “Chemical Ali.”

And was that guy Llewellyn in charge of Primary Industries and animal welfare too – the fox in charge of the chicken coop?

In 2004, Senator Bill Heffernan said Tasmania needed to move beyond denial and clean up its act on aerial chemical spraying.

"His comments follow revelations that a Tasmanian couple whose property was oversprayed with the herbicide atrazine had unknowingly been drinking contaminated water for the past six weeks. The couple's small farm at Wyena, in north-eastern Tasmania, was accidentally doused with the potential carcinogen on August 18 by a helicopter contracted to spray a neighbouring forestry plantation by Tasmanian timber giant Gunns Ltd."

"I think it's a disgrace what's been allowed to go on and I have continued to say that," he told ABC Radio. "I think the people of Tasmania deserve to know the truth. The industry and the Government need to get beyond denial on the problem.” Looks like Heffernan’s into conspiracy theories too!

The quacks at the APVMA have had a number of highly toxic pesticides under ‘review’ for more than 13 years including Atrazine which has been denied regulatory approval by the European Union and is banned in Europe, even in Switzerland, the home of primary manufacturer, Sygenta.

Now just with whom is the APVMA conspiring while they continue using humans as cannon fodder?

I daresay Mark that the hapless Tasmanian people would be truly grateful for the support of their altruistic academics trained in corporate governance.

En guarde!

Protagorus
I shouldn't respond to your latest stuff, but you shouldn't be allowed to get away with presenting selective facts. So here is a bit of perspective from the State of the Forests Tasmania 2006 Report.

You said: "The reduction in the native forest estate between 1997–98 and 2007–08 was approximately 132,120 ha"

While this amount of forest was lost to clearing for agriculture, plantation development, road construction and urban expansion over that 10-year period, the overall change in Tasmania's tree cover was negigible because of the counter-balancing expansion of plantations on previously cleared farmland.

Tasmania has a government policy that the state's area of native forest must never fall below 95% of its 1996 area. The reduction in native forest up to 2008 does not contravene this policy, which was mentioned in the State of the Environment Report from which you have quoted.

The reduction of native forest has slowed considerably in recent years as plantation conversion has now all but ceased on public land and is being phased out on private land.

In 2006, Tasmania still retained 65% of its 1750 native forest area, which is the higest rate of forest retention in Australia.

47% of Tasmania's forests are in formal and informal public land reserves, and private land reserves. This is the highest rate of forest reservation of any Australian state or other developed country.

To put into further perspective, while Tasmania lost ~13,000 ha of forest per year from 1997 - 2008; Brazil was losing 2 to 2.5 million ha per year mostly from clearing for agriculture.

Dear Mark

I’m pleased to hear that you agree that my selections are “FACT” due to the ‘fact’ they are taken from the Tasmanian government’s website – verbatim. Therefore, if you disagree with my selective “facts” why not liaise with your government associates so that the two sides of the story are compatible?

After all, the Tasmanian and federal government did hand over the generous amount of $250 million of taxpayers’ money to prop up a flawed industry, so Joe Citizen is entitled to more transparency than the current jabberwocky which prevails.

In addition, I’m primarily interested in the state of the environment and what your industry is dumping on the biosphere. I am not au fait with the current size of Tasmania’s forest since I live on the other side of the nation. Nevertheless, you boast that Tasmania’s only “lost ~13,000 ha of forest per year from 1997 – 2008” which is some consolation given Tasmania has a total land mass of 68,401 square kilometres while WA for instance, has a land mass of 2.5 million square kilometres.

In “fact” the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania had the smallest area of total native forest of all states and territories in 2006, but the largest area of native forest as a proportion of the state/territory area (52% and 46%, respectively).

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mXDLpnHQpBQJ:www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs%40.nsf/Lookup/4613.0Chapter100Jan%2B2010+native+forest+area+tasmania+hectares%3F&cd=15&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

So how long does it take for a plantation tree to reach maturity in Tasmania Mark? Fifteen, twenty years? I have read that Tasmania will not be capable of meeting customer demands (particularly with the reviled Gunns' proposal) so will your industry continue to plunder and poison native forests?

“One of the most significant threats to natural diversity in Tasmania is the clearing of native vegetation and its replacement with that of a different land use activity (e.g. tree farms, agriculture, dams etc).

"The total extent of native vegetation cleared since European settlement has been calculated to be around 23%, or 1.560 million hectares (CARSAG APU data 2002). Between 1972-1999, over a quarter of a million hectares of native vegetation were cleared in Tasmania.”

http://soer.justice.tas.gov.au/2003/bio/4/issue/41/ataglance.php