United Future's pledge to push for a ban on 1080 poison has disappointed some West Coast farmers battling bovine tuberculosis in their herds.
TB-Free West Coast chairperson Helen Lash says party leader Peter Dunne has no idea how significant the TB problem is, and wants him to meet West Coast farmers who have lost stock worth thousands of dollars.
Mr Dunne told his party's annual meeting on Saturday that the use of 1080 in the bush is killing a wide range of animals, not just possums, and is polluting streams and rivers. He plans to negotiate a ban in the wake of next year's general election.
The United Future leader said the party would encourage other forms of pest control, including the greater use of traps, and support more scientific research to that end.
