This news just disturbs me, what is it about our society that feels that we must control and inflict our opinions on everything around us?

The issue of pest control is a complicated one. What is a pest? Is not the human race the biggest pest of them all by the very same definition?

The problem New Zealand has with the introduced possum is particularily polarising. To slaughter them or not to slaughter them, and how. There is a perceived risk of the transfer of TB to the bovine stock on forest fringes, therefore the possums must go. Not only this but they strip the native forest, and kill birdlife.

The current solution of 1080 poison control is, in my opinion, a total reflection on how the western society tends to deal with most things. With a heavy handed approach that has no consideration for total impact or possible long term effects on the issue at hand, but also the bigger picture regarding the inter-related nature of life. Not only do the possums die, but  also do the deer, the goats and birds. Basically everything that might stumble upon it. Not such a selective solution really.

Perhaps we are at a stage that if it is really that necessary to cull back the possum numbers, instead of polluting the rivers and the ground with this incredible toxic material we just go back to the old fashioned, reasonable 'price on the head'. If decent money is to be made from killing possums for their fur for instance, I am sure alot more folks would be out there engaged in the slaughter, and the numbers would decline quickly. Never under estimate the power of human greed. Long term I would imagine that this would have to be a lot cheaper a solution than helicopters, chemicals and legal battles.

The butterfly effect is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. While the butterfly does not "cause" the tornado in the sense of providing the energy for the tornado, it does "cause" it in the sense that the flap of its wings is an essential part of the initial conditions resulting in a tornado, and without that flap that particular tornado would not have existed.

The article that sparked this thought process from the NZPA: (note the twist at the end)

Poison baits using sodium nitrite as a toxin are being tested on possums at a secret site in the South Island.

Environmental regulators last month gave Auckland company, Connovation Ltd, approval to manufacture 15kg of the poison baits at its East Tamaki premises and to ship them to the South Island for the field trials on possums.

Details of where the trials are being conducted and the outlines of study on the poisons, NNPAS-C1 and NNPAS-C2, were only supplied to the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) in a confidential paper.

"Access by the public is limited and there is no domestic stock on the site," Erma said.

Signs on the trial would warn people that might be in the area of the green baits set along 12 lines, each with 10 bait stations.

Uneaten bait would be sent to a waste management company, and dead animals either buried of frozen and also sent to a waste company or incinerated. Tests on the two formulations before and after the poisoning trials will indicate their relative stability in the environment, as a guide to which one should be most useful.

Connovation is part of a joint research programme with Lincoln University seeking "smart pest control" for animals such as rodents, weasels, ferrets and stoats, feral cats and possums.

The researchers are seeking humane and cost-effective technologies that target multiple pest species with minimal non-target side-effects.

Overdoses of sodium nitrite can not only poison animals but cause mutations in their offspring.
In much smaller doses, the chemical has been widely used as a colour fixative and preservative in meats and fish.

Ok so here is the kicker as I see it. The last 2 lines of the article are clear. Overdoses of sodium nitrate are poisonous and cause genetic mutations , yet this acknowledged toxic chemical is widely found already in our food. Great. It is like being a little bit dead, or a little bit pregnant. You are or you are not. If an additive is that toxic that it kills and mutates that which it does not kill, do we really need it in our food in any quantity. After all, you are what you eat!