STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (13:07): I assume everyone here loves to eat berries and loves giving berries to their children and grandchildren, believing they are giving them something not just yummy but also healthy. Did you know that your beloved blueberries are being sprayed not just with pesticides but with forever pesticides? Berries, capsicum and broccoli, among other things, are routinely sprayed with a chemical called isocycloseram, and this pesticide breaks down into compounds that are so-called 'forever chemicals' or PFAS.

They are called this because they don't break down in the environment; they actually accumulate in the environment and in our bodies. There is widespread evidence that PFAS chemicals are linked with a range of negative health outcomes, such as cancers, kidney diseases, fertility issues and harm to unborn children. Last year I chaired a Senate inquiry into PFAS chemicals.

Its first recommendation was that Food Standards Australia New Zealand should review the tolerable daily intakes for PFAS against the latest international research and regulatory settings and present a report to this parliament by October this year at the latest. As part of this review, FSANZ should reconsider the need to establish regulatory limits on PFAS in food.

Of course, like so many important recommendations, the government has not acted on this. You're poisoning our people, our babies—even you, new Labor person. Meanwhile, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, APVMA, intends to raise maximum residue levels of Syngenta's isocycloseram pesticide 500-fold.

So the chemical company is not reducing the chemicals in our food; they're making it worse. Senator Hanson: You're 10 years behind. Senator THORPE: Well, why aren't you talking about it, love?

This is increasing rather than limiting or stopping the use of a harmful forever pesticide in our food. The government has a duty of care and should eliminate sources of these harmful chemicals wherever possible, such as through banning the use of existing and new pesticides which contain harmful PFAS chemicals. Instead, this country was the first to approve this pesticide by Syngenta in 2021.

It is banned in Europe, where broad bans on PFAS chemicals are being progressed. For comparison, the EU has banned 225 pesticides. Guess how many we've banned?

Twenty-four. Pesticide use in general is going up. Pesticides have been linked to higher rates of motor neurone disease and Parkinson's, as well as biodiversity loss and reef destruction.

One to three native insects die out every week. None of this is taken into account when economic benefits and costs are calculated. In fact, APVMA is measuring success not in how much it keeps consumers and the environment safe but in how many chemicals it can get into the market as quickly as possible.

The PFAS inquiry showed wide problems with APVMA relying on company provided toxicity data rather than independent assessments. We know that companies, of course, are going to claim that their products are safe. It wouldn't be in their interest to do it any other way.

I also need to point out that APVMA is the only chemical regulator in the world to be majority industry funded. It is no wonder, then, whom this so-called regulator serves. Independent reviews of APVMA found very high influence of and engagement with industry over everyone else, yet the government has not acted on a single concern raised in several reviews.

Please know that this government is completely fine with your children and your grandchildren being poisoned with berries. Albo, it's not berry nice.