I also wasn’t impressed and couldn’t understand why New Zealanders would slag off our country in the international media. Whatever turns you on, I suppose.
Further slagging our dairy industry with a plethora of emotive and unscientific rhetoric was, I thought, irresponsible.
Without the income from the dairy industry the country would be in dire straits.
While I passionately agree with academic freedom, surely any commentary should be factual. Joy’s employer, Victoria University, obviously isn’t worried about such niceties.
The article started with what I’d call a meandering history lesson with sheep on the Canterbury Plains followed by cows.
That conversion to dairying meant irrigation, nitrogen fertiliser and leaching, according to Joy and Larsen anyway.
When I was a student at the hallowed halls of Lincoln sheep grazed where the Lincoln Dairy Farm now operates.
The leaching from that dairy farm is minor. That is fact despite the farm having high stocking rates and production.
I also argue the bombastic rhetoric about nitrogen and its effect on humans is just that, bombastic rhetoric.
We’ve had some highly emotive reaction, too, with one suggestion, without proof of course, telling us 50 people could be dying from bowel cancer every year because of nitrates in the drinking water.
We were also told bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in NZ each year and, of course, nitrates are to blame and they’re in the water because of farmers.
Unsurprisingly, I have a problem with the entire debate.
For a start, the anti-nitrate debaters, Joy and Larsen included, quote a Danish study released last December.
Reading the fine print you can learn it could not rule out lifestyle factors like obesity and, as you and I know, that’s nothing to do with the water.
If you then further analyse the Danish data the difference with incidences of colon and rectal cancer are unchanged from exposure at different levels. The trial was done over 10,000 person years so it was exhaustive.
The World Cancer Research Fund International’s 2014 analysis was interesting. The substances it warns about for colon and rectal cancer are red meat, processed meat and obesity. Nitrogen doesn’t rate a mention.
The cancer causes in the study they are many and varied from birthweight, through fatness, alcoholic drinks and arsenic in drinking water.
Nowhere is nitrogen featured.
In 2017 the World Health Organisation published a study that was clear on nitrates in drinking water.
“Although numerous epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between exposure of nitrate and nitrite in drinking water and cancer occurrence the weight of evidence does not clearly support an association between cancer and exposure to nitrate and nitrite per se. Overall these studies found no clear association between nitrogen and nitrate in drinking water and risk of cancer in the gastro-intestinal tract.”
I rest my case but ask with due humility why the media are continually running alarmist anti-farmer stories about perceived risks from dairying to nitrate to cancer when no such link exists.
With Joy, I expect it.
On the other side Auckland University has strong views on how to avoid cancer.
They are to eat sensibly, get exercise and avoid obesity, smoking and sunburn.
In addition the acceptable levels of nitrogen in rivers in NZ are a mere fraction of those allowed in Britain and Europe.
Researching this article I remain unaware of any concern in those countries over nitrogen levels, even though they are much higher than ours.
On one hand international studies completely clear nitrogen in drinking water while on the other we have local “experts” given unfettered access to the media predicting Armageddon.
I wonder why?
Joy’s and Larsen’s diatribe is punctuated by some interesting observations.
They talk about importing large quantities of ecologically unsustainable palm kernel while ignoring the fact it is a by-product of the palm oil industry.
They claim recent studies in Denmark and the US have shown our maximum allowable value of nitrate in drinking water is greatly above the level associated with colorectal cancer.
According to the WHO it isn’t.
The one pleasing result of the shabby exercise is that the media haven’t run with the line from Joy and Larsen.
Long may that continue. Facts and reputable research should conquer all.
Finally, if you have a mate or sibling wanting to go to university recommend Lincoln, Massey, Auckland, Canterbury or Otago.
With the level of debate coming from the anti-farming brigade at Victoria you wouldn’t want to corrupt young minds by sending them there.
