Get real TCT…the IIS doesn’t protect anything…it’s a document…a mass of words written by the people who want the project to succeed.

Anyone who believes that Gunns is even slightly interested in public protection needs to check in with the real world.

Try interpreting the world on the basis of actual results and behaviours instead of rhetoric and promises.

Nice press release. Monitoring will be a good idea - I suspect that the RPDC might mandate this. The rest is poorly researched relative to the toxicologists report in the IIS.

The Gunns IIS rejects bioaccumlation of dioxins in the marine food chain and in seals. You may be interested in the following;

‘Though the concentrations of dioxins are so low in the river water that they cannot be determined using standard water testing procedures, such persistent chemicals as dioxins concentrate in the tissue and accumulate exponentially as they move through the food chain. Through this process of bioaccumulation, the dioxin levels can be a few million times higher in a fish body than in the surrounding water.’- ORGANOHALOGEN COMPOUNDS, Vol. 66 (2004), p. 1796

DIOXIN 2004 - Session summary report: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in marine mammals: levels and effects.
Susan D. Shaw (1) and Derek Muir (2)
(1) Marine Environmental Research Institute, Center for Marine Studies, USA
(2) National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, Canada

Marine mammals occupy a high trophic level and accumulate high body burdens of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) through placental and lactational transfer as well as through feeding over a long life span. Because they bioaccumulate high levels of POPs and thereby integrate contaminant information in the environment, marine mammals provide a “real world” exposure scenario and an early warning signal about chemicals which present the greatest risk to consumers at the top of the food chain, including humans. This special session focuses on the bioaccumulation of POPs in marine mammals and examines toxicological effects resulting from the accumulation of these compounds as well as exposure pathways, body burdens and trends. The session is comprised of 9 presentations by experts from six (6) countries including Australia, Finland, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States.

Marine mammals in many parts of the world carry a plethora of POPs in their tissues including… dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). Over the past three decades, elevated concentrations of endocrine-disrupting compounds have been linked with a number of deleterious effects in marine mammals including hormonal abnormalities, skeletal deformities, and reproductive failure, while immunotoxic POPs are widely suspected to have played a role in the viral epizootics that have decimated several populations since the 1980s.

Amirova et.al. presented results of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) project, focusing on recent studies of dioxin-like PCBs and PCDD/Fs [dioxins/furans] in tissues of marine mammals from the Russian Arctic. PCBs and PCDD/Fs were highest in blubber followed by liver> kidney>muscle tissues. Species variability in bioaccumulation was evidenced by the higher ratios of dioxin-like PCBs/PCDD/Fs in ringed seals and bearded seals compared with lower ratios in gray whale and walruses.

A study by Gaus et.al. aimed to establish baseline information on PCDD/F [dioxin/furan] accumulation by the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal, the dugong, from Queensland, Australia, and to determine potential exposure pathways and associated health risks. Their results suggested that exposure of dugongs to PCDD/Fs is related to the local contaminant concentrations in their inshore seagrass habitats, which in turn is governed by terrestrial runoff and sediment transport within river plumes in Queensland… the study suggests that up to 21% of the [dugong] population may be at risk for toxic effects of PCDD/Fs [dioxins/furans].

Kajiwara et.al. examined the pattern of contamination by dioxin-related compounds including non- and mono-ortho coplanar PCBs and PCDD/Fs [dioxins/furans] in cetaceans [whales] from Japanese coastal waters during 1998-2001. The study found higher contaminant loads in blubber of coastal species [of whales] than in cetaceans that migrate along the Pacific coast… While PCDD [dioxin] concentrations were higher in coastal cetaceans [whales] and PCDFs were higher in offshore cetaceans, coplanar PCBs were detected at much higher levels in all samples analyzed.

Elevated levels of POPs found in marine mammals inhabiting industrial coastal regions often signal the existence of a regional contamination problem… Overall, this session provided an overview of established and emerging research initiatives that help to elucidate the accumulation, possible sources, and metabolic fate as well as the potential health effects of POPs in marine mammals.’

Again, Super: the toxicology report in the Gunns IIS is the report that supports what Gunns wants to do.  Accepting this as the final word on the issue, as you seem to imply we should, is foolish.

Subject: A man with a mission but not much vision.

GUNNS SHARES for sale “bloody cheap”, and be warned, if you don’t buy them, John Gay will. It’s all about “make believe”, smoke and mirrors.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=33&ContentID=1548

Gunns boss buys up as investors quit schemes
25th July 2006

Cathy Bolt

Gunns boss John Gay yesterday described the controversial timber giant’s shares as “bloody cheap” and said he was buying them himself as other investors continued to dump stocks heavily involved in tax-effective managed investment schemes.
 
Mr Gay also revealed Gunns was looking to expand its operations in WA through the establishment of new eucalypt plantations to supply sawlogs to its local mills to supplement dwindling volumes and quality of native jarrah.
 
The Tasmanian-based company moved into the WA timber industry two years ago when it bought Wesfarmers’ Sotico jarrah business, including its South-West sawmills at Yarloop, Collie and Deanmill, near Manjimup, and a processing centre at Manjimup.
 
Mr Gay said it hoped to start establishing plantations near Manjimup this year and eventually build a renewable resource of about 20,000 hectares which would be progressively harvested at 18 to 20 years for structural and flooring timber.
 
He said the trees could be processed at Deanmill, which was being upgraded to better handle the smaller, lower quality jarrah logs to which the industry was now restricted.
 
Mr Gay said the plantations would either be funded by outside investors through managed investment schemes or Gunns would fund them itself.
 
The 300,000ha of eucalypt plantations so far established in WA, mostly by MIS companies, are shorter-rotation trees intended to be harvested at 10 years for woodchips. Gunns shares shed another 5¢ yesterday to close at a three-year low of $2.54, about a third below their level a year ago.
 
The biggest player in the MIS market, Great Southern Plantations fell 8¢ to a two-year-low of $2.50, a 40 per cent slide in just over two months. Timbercorp dropped 26¢ to $3.07, nearly $1 below the record it hit last month as most of its 2006 projects sold out.
 
The latest bout of negative sentiment towards the volatile MIS sector has been blamed on uncertainty over whether the Federal Government may react to mounting criticism of its rapid growth over the past three years by removing the 100 per cent tax deductibility of the investments.
 
Industry researcher Shane Kelly, of Adviser Edge, has said the industry would be doing well this year if it could match 2005-06’s $1.2 billion in sales.
 
Mr Gay said only about a third of Gunns income was from managed investment schemes, which it got into some years ago to help secure a plantation resource for its woodchip export business. He said it would not be a disaster for Gunns if the Government did move to deter investors from managed schemes because Gunns would fund the plantations, and claim the tax deduction, itself. But he doubted the Government would take such action because investment generally in plantation forestry would dry up.
 
Bell Potter senior analyst Matthew Ward said it was not unusual for shares in MIS companies to suffer weakness after June 30 and it could provide buying opportunities.
 
But new factors which could be contributing to the current sentiment included recent tax cuts, the prospect of higher interest rates, scrutiny of the returns now starting to flow to investors and proposed changes which would make superannuation more tax-effective.
 
Mr Gay said he did not believe there would be a woodchip price drop when the big tracts of eucalypts planted in Australia in recent years start to reach maturity.
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