Why scientists back the use of 1080 poison

  • Breaking
  • 11/03/2015

New rules around the handling of the pesticide 1080 have been introduced in the wake of the infant formula threat.

Massey University biosciences lecturer Heather Hendrickson says the toxin got its popular name from its catalogue number – its real name is sodium fluoroacetate.

"It's a pretty simple chemical, that when applied to an organism is going to interfere with the really essential pathway for generating energy called the Krebs cycle," she said on Firstline this morning.

She says it's incredibly effective, and it's used because New Zealand wildlife didn't evolve to face mammalian predators.

"All of our native wildlife evolved without any mammals here at all."

So why is there such opposition? And what do scientists think?

Watch the video for the full explanation from Dr Hendrickson. 

source: newshub archive