A community group including prominent Tasmanian scientists has used a visit by a United Nations official to highlight claims that the state's drinking water is unsafe.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A conference at Parliament House, featuring United National Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr Marco Orellana, was told that there was a link between heavy metals, pesticides, and neurotoxic contaminants and the surge in the illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease and Motor Neurone Disease.
Community group Safe Water for Hobart claimed that runoff from farms, forestry plantations and fish hatcheries was "supercharging" blue-green algae blooms, which they say is linked to increased risk of neurological disease.
One attendee at Parliament House on Wednesday was St Helens GP Dr Alison Bleaney, who said neurodegenerative diseases have increased dramatically over the past 25 to 30 years and environmental factors are the cause of the increase.
"We are all drinking the chemical soup," she said.
"Most of Tasmanian drinking water is taken from the bottom of the catchments.
"These are important issues because poor-quality drinking water with pesticides in them and other contaminants cause a huge diversity of illnesses and disease.
"Tasmania, unfortunately, has seen dramatic increases in things like cancers and diabetes and obesity."
Marine biologist Dr Lisa Gershwin said TasWater currently is not testing for BMAA, a neurotoxic component produced by blue-green algae.
"BMAA has been causally linked with motor neurone disease in a peer-reviewed research paper that looked at hundreds of papers," she said.
These studies showed that BMAA was the only substance that met all nine of the common criteria for causation, Dr Gershwin said.
Also attending the conference was John Kelly and his son, Paul, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease when he was 23 years old.
Now 31, Paul said while he didn't know for certain what had caused the onset of his MND, there was "very strong data" suggesting that pesticides, herbicides, Algal bi-products and heavy metals may be contaminating Tasmania's water sources.
"There is very strong data suggesting these things are linked with increases in diseases such as cancers and neurodegenerative diseases," he said.
There is a swollen body of evidence suggesting that the blue-green algae that produces BMAA is caused by agricultural runoff, fish farms and other industrial activities, he said.
Safe Water for Hobart has called on better testing of the water, including for BMAA, by TasWater.
They also said the state's catchments need to be managed by a coordinated authority.
"There's about ten government authorities that have input into water catchments, you've got all the industry, you've got all small business," John Kelly said.
"We need a catchment management authority that looks at these issues holistically rather than all these groups running around," he said.
TasWater Head of Water and Environment Services, Fran Smith, said Tasmanians can trust that their water is "absolutely safe to drink" and meets Australian Drinking Water Guideline requirements.
"Our highly credentialed water quality team are members of various Australia-wide committees that are at the forefront of water quality science, including monitoring emerging risks and following best practice testing regimes.
"In the event we do detect the presence of algal blooms, we monitor for any risks to human health. The occurrence of this is extremely rare.
"Current advice does not suggest BMAA is a water quality hazard to human health, and there are no regulatory limits for BMAA in drinking water from the World Health Organisation or Australian Drinking Water Guidelines," she said.
Luke Martin, chief executive officer of industry group Salmon Tasmania, said there was no credible evidence backing the claims by Safe Water for Hobart of a link between salmon farming and these illnesses.
"We don't accept and have been presented no credible evidence connecting salmon farming with heart-breaking and destructive conditions such as MND and Parkinson's Disease," he said.
"It is unfathomable and downright slanderous to be making such wild accusations and we reject them outright."
Alastair Cameron, chief executive officer of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, said he was committed to safeguarding the health of Tasmanian waterways and promoting sustainable farming practices.
"What is disappointing is Federal Labor has recently cut funding for the National Soils Advocate (NSA) program and the funding for soil health programs that had previously had bipartisan support," he said.
"Parts of that program were to cover soil health and fertiliser use and to address soil challenges such as erosion and run-off.
"We would call on the federal government to reinstate NSA funding and the $54 million recently cut from the Soil Monitoring Incentives Program (SMIP)."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner