Nurturing an Acquiescence to Toxicity: The Role of the State in Urban Pesticide Spraying Campaigns

• In Event: 254 - Section on Environment and Technology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Attitudes and Behavior

Abstract

This paper examines the central role governments play in the toxification of society, and focuses specifically on urban aerial pesticide spraying campaigns, which are a growing but underanalyzed phenomenon. The analysis focuses on New Zealand’s 2002-03 spraying campaign to eradicate the Painted Apple Moth, which was a campaign of unprecedented scale, whether we consider the area sprayed (12,000 ha), the frequency of the sprayings (48 times in a seventeen month period), or the number of people exposed (over 193,000 people). The campaign resulted in 22,000 health complaints, 800 people seeking medical attention, 100 being referred to medical specialists, and untold ecological damage. In accounting for why this campaign was allowed to happen, I make a three-pronged argument: 1) New Zealander’s have an acquiescence to toxicity that has seen them be more accommodating to pesticides than has been the case in many other Western nations; 2) the government nurtured an acquiescence to the campaign by obscuring the ecological and health effects associated with the spray in question; and 3) governments and citizens are caught in the treadmill predisposition, where they emphasize economic growth at the expense of all other considerations. Beyond the specific case, this analysis illuminates the central role governments play in urban pesticide campaigns more generally. Not only are they the perpetrators of chemical violence, they use deceit to mitigate resistance to the spraying campaigns. Additionally, the analysis can be used to elucidate how governments help nurture an acquiescence to other pesticides, as well as toxicants more generally.

Author

• Manuel Vallee, University of Auckland