Residues
See also: Pesticide residues in New ZealandThere was increasing evidence, especially in the 1970s, that there was DDT residues in aquatic organisms, including trout and eels. Being bioaccumulative DDT passes up the food chain and organisms at higher trophic levels end up with high concentrations of the pesticide.
Some Canterbury and Southland farms have elevated levels of DDT and a programme run by the Ministry of Agriculture ensures that exported meat and dairy produce have low levels of these residues. During dry periods animals ingest soil since grass is shorter and sparser and the DDT residue on the soil is retained by the animal. In the 1980s 40% of the lambs in Canterbury, a region with low rainfall and occasional droughts, had DDT levels that were above the European Union's permitted limit but still acceptable under safe tolerance limits for New Zealand.
Mapua was one of the most contaminated sites in New Zealand due to pesticide residues in the soils from a now defunct factory. In the 1940s organomercury and organochlorine pesticides, including DDT, DDD, dieldrin, 2,4-D and paraquat, were produced. The factory closed in 1988 and the site was subjected to a major clean up operation in the 2000s.
DDT has also been found in the endangered Hectors dolphin which inhabits the coastal regions on New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: DDT In New Zealand
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