Source: Radio New Zealand
Her complaint centred on the decision not to recall and ban the importation sale of all coloured sand. Supplied
A law advisor in human rights has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman asking for an urgent investigation into the response to asbestos-contaminated play sand.
Sophie Bradwell-Pollak said there had been multiple failures which amounted to a human rights issue.
“Obviously there were initially products that were put on the recall list but as the weeks have gone on from November, more and more products have gone on the recall list.
“So I’m really starting to see a pattern that this is really widespread,” she told RNZ.
“And actually, we’re not taking a proactive enough approach given how problematic this is.
“This is in children’s products and it’s in sand that, you know, children were using to celebrate Diwali,” she said.
Bradwell-Pollak first complained to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on 4 December but had not had a substantial response.
She said she believed that lack of response meant it should proceed to the Ombudsman.
“The personal side of it is my son’s daycare has used the sand for Diwali and they took the initiative, even though the products that they used were not on the recall list, they took the initiative to get private testing, which was great,” she said.
“And actually, they tested three different batches, three different products, used at three different daycare centres within Auckland purchased in different places and they all came back with traces of asbestos.
“They’re still not on the recall list kind of three weeks later, and that for me is absolutely shocking,” Bradwell-Pollak said.
“I think that the fact that we haven’t just done a ban, recall, ban of sale and ban of import until we know there’s no contamination is absurd.”
Her complaint centred on the decision not to recall and ban the importation sale of all coloured sand.
It also focused on what she said was a lack of timely action and lack of a cohesive and robust approaching to mitigating potential harm.
“When it comes to children especially, there’s something called the precautionary principle,” she said.
“They should have taken the initiative to – in my eyes, and I think from a human rights perspective, if we look at the obligations to children especially, but also around health – they should have banned and recalled all the products until we know it’s safe.”
Another issue was the “passing the buck” of how the contamination has been dealt with, Bradwell-Pollak said.
“I think this is raising equity issues but even if we put all that aside, if the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and MBIE have been alerted and being given information that a product is contaminated, the fact that it’s still available in stores right now and it’s not on the recall list, I think is incredibly problematic,” she said.
“So I think that actually there’s kind of a layering of different places of failure here, but I think that actually the actions are just not swift enough.”
She said there had been nothing done to try to understand the exposure levels to children or keep records of who was exposed.
“The reality is we have a country that cares a lot about our border safety, we care a lot about our flora and fauna, we were very decisive when it came to action to close our borders for Covid-19 so the fact that we’re not doing enough to protect not only children, their families, their pets and the workers that are handling this and the ECE workers and the teachers is a huge failing all round, I would say.”
The government has a key obligation to protect the right to health and children’s rights, she said.
MBIE responds
MBIE told RNZ its response to Bradwell-Pollak was still being drafted.
“We apologise for any delay,” it said in a statement.
Its consumer protection spokesperson Ian Caplin said the ministry understood the potential presence of asbestos was concerning for parents and caregivers.
“The role of Consumer Protection, which is a business unit of the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment as the coordinator of the government response has been to work with WorkSafe, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission,” he said.
“All businesses and individuals that make or sell products including retailers, online sellers, and manufacturers are responsible for product safety. Even products without specific mandatory standards still need to be safe for use and meet expectations under the Fair Trading Act 1986.”
The health, safety and wellbeing of New Zealand families was MBIE’s highest priority, Caplin said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
