NYC’s Program to Allegedly “Reduce” West Nile virus Now in its 26th Year, Begun in 1999 Under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

Manhattan Neighborhoods including Alphabet City, Chinatown, East Village, Financial District, Greenwich Village including Washington Square Park, Hudson Square, Noho, Soho, Tribeca, Two Bridges, West Village & more to be sprayed with toxic pesticides Monday, September 22nd between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. On Wednesday, September 24th, Brooklyn & Queens neighborhoods will be sprayed including East New York, New Lots, Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and more between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. [Map links and zip codes at end of post.]

For the 26th year, New York City continues its toxic pesticide spraying to “control” West Nile Virus

These are the 20th and 21st mass pesticide spraying “events” conducted by the City’s Department of Health this year.

The New York City pesticide spray program was initiated by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 1999; Mayor Giuliani ran it from his bunker on the 23rd floor of World Trade Center #7 under the auspices of the Office of Emergency Management. The program has continued under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, and now Eric Adams.

The spray program has never been publicly reviewed by any city agency since its inception.

The NYC Department of Health continues to issue to itself waivers from the provisions of the City’s anti-pesticide laws, thereby setting into motion the spraying of toxic pesticides in residential areas and public parks and streets!

The three pesticides being used are Anvil®, Duet®, or MERUS® 3.

Anvil 10+10 is a pyrethroid comprised of four ingredients: sumithrin; piperonyl butoxide; polyethylbenzene, also known as heavy aromatic solvent naptha (petroleum); and “white mineral oil,” also known as “hydrotreated light paraffinic petroleum distillate.”

It is toxic to bees and fish and kills natural predators of the mosquito, including dragonflies, bats, frogs, and birds. Sumithrin is a suspected gastrointestinal, kidney and liver toxicant and a suspected neurotoxicant. Piperonyl butoxide is listed as a suspected carcinogen. These are just a few of the known health issues related to these pesticides.

Pyrethroids are also known endocrine disrupters.

Joel Kupferman, Esq., executive director of the NY Environmental Law and Justice Project, and Counsel to the No Spray Coalition, has blasted the City administration, stating:

“NYC fails again to warn the populace of Anvil’s deleterious effects. Once again City officials are disingenuous, relying on outdated science and impact reviews, rubber stamping waiver requests, failing once again to encourage incident reporting and issuing advisories to the public health community.”

In the year 2000, Kupferman filed a lawsuit against the City on behalf of the No Spray Coalition as the lead plaintiff. The Coalition was joined by Beyond Pesticides, Disabled in Action, and Save Organic Standards as co-Plaintiffs. Pace University Law Clinic assisted with the case.

In 2006 a federal judge ruled that the City of New York was in violation of the Clean Water Act and by 2007, having lost its key point in the case, the City negotiated a settlement.

Yet Mayor Eric Adams and his administration spray on.

New Yorkers affected by the pesticides have filed numerous complaints. The City has never performed a “thorough environmental review and epidemiologic analyis” of the pesticide spraying. Being sprayed in the face or caught in the fogging is considered “low level(s) of exposure.”

Thousands of people have reported that they were sickened by the spray – none of them count? Some have testified that their pets died. But City officials so far say they couldn’t find anyone who was sickened by the spraying.

These are the same officials, agencies and Health Department that certified the air as safe after 9/11 and directed New Yorkers to return to contaminated residences, workplaces and firehouses.

Kupferman, who has been fighting on behalf of tenants in New York Housing Authority projects against mold that permeates many apartments, is fed up.

Toxicologist Dr. Robert Simon, who took soil samples from around the city following the spraying and whose testimony was extremely damning to the city’s spray program, agrees:

“The only solution is another lawsuit against NYC Department of Health. They do not care what we think and will not respond unless a judge tells them to. The current spraying is the same pattern of disrespect for the law that they have shown since they started spraying.“

No Evidence the City’s Pesticide Spraying has Prevented West Nile virus

There is no evidence presented that the City’s pesticide spraying has prevented West Nile disease (encephalitis). The risk of contracting West Nile Virus is very low, certainly not worth putting the entire population at significant risk and harming human health, wildlife, animals, beneficial insects, and our environment.

“In fact,” the No Spray Coalition continues, “there is no evidence that the number of mosquitoes, let alone those that carry West Nile virus, has EVER been diminished by pesticide spraying!”

That may seem counterintuitive, but in fact studies show that mosquitoes come back after spraying in larger numbers than before, and many are now resistant to the pesticides. Meanwhile, the pesticides not only cause cancer and disrupt the endocrine system, but greatly reduced sperm counts — all follow in the wake of the pesticides.

NO SPRAY COALITION LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT: CITY ADMITTED PESTICIDES HAVE ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS, MORE:

As part of the the 2007 decision in the No Spray Coalition’s lawsuit, the City admitted, signed and in writing, that the pesticides:

• may remain in the environment beyond their intended purpose
• cause adverse health effects
• kill mosquitoes’ natural predators (such as dragonflies, bats, frogs and birds)
• increase mosquitoes’ resistance to the sprays, and
• are not approved for direct application to waterways.

THE CITY RECKLESSLY DISREGARDS SCIENTIFIC STUDIES THAT RUN COUNTER TO ITS DRUMBEAT FOR SPRAYING

These studies include:

• A major Centers for Disease Control study that found that all residents of the United States, including residents of New York City and State, now carry dangerously high levels of pesticides and their residues in our bodies, which may have onerous effects on our health. (Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals,Centers for Disease Control, 2005);
• A U.S. Geological Study showing that a large percentage of waterways and streams throughout the United States, including those in New York City and State, has been found to contain environmentally destructive pesticides that may severely impact on animal and aquatic life. (U.S. Geological Survey: “The Quality of Our Nation’s Waters, Pesticides in the Nation’s Streams and Ground Water,”1992-2001, http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2005/1291/);
• Studies confirming that pesticides are both a trigger for asthma attacks and a root cause of asthma (Salam, et al: “Early-life environmental risk factors for asthma findings from the children’s health study.” Environmental Health Perspectives 112(6):760-765), and that asthma is epidemic across New York City;
• Cicero Swamp Study, showing that pesticides killed off the natural predators of mosquitoes and as a consequence mosquitoes came back much stronger after the spraying, because many of their natural predators (which have longer reproductive cycles) were dead. These studies were done in New York state for mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and found a 15-fold increase in mosquitoes after repeated spraying, and that virtually all of the new generations of mosquitoes were pesticide-resistant. (Journal of the Am Mosquito Control Assoc, Dec; 13(4):315-25, 1997 Howard JJ, Oliver New York State Department of Health, SUNY-College ESF, Syracuse 13210, USA);
• Studies that show that pesticides have cumulative, multigenerational, degenerative impacts on human health, especially on the development of children, which may not be evident immediately and may only appear years or even decades later*;
• Studies that show that pesticides make it easier for mosquitoes and other organisms to get and transmit West Nile Virus due to damage to their stomach lining. (Haas, George. “West Nile virus, spraying pesticides the wrong response,” American Bird Conservancy, October 23, 2000); and,
• Studies that show that pyrethroid spraying is ineffective in reducing the number of the next generation of mosquitoes. (“Efficacy of Resmethrin Aerosols Applied from the Road for Suppressing Culex Vectors of West Nile Virus,” Michael R. Reddy, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, et. al., Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, Volume 6, Number 2, June 2006)

THERE IS NO SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN OCCURRENCE OF WEST NILE VIRUS FOR CITIES THAT SPRAY PESTICIDES VS. THOSE THAT DON’T SPRAY

The No Spray Coalition branch in Nashville, Tennessee analyzed data contrasting cities that spray, such as Dallas, Nashville, and Baltimore, and cities that don’t spray, including Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., Cincinnati and Fort Worth, Texas, released its report in 2012 based on statistics provided by the health departments at 14 major cities. Its conclusion: “Results show no significant difference in West Nile virus rates between communities that spray and those that don’t.”

“When we find West Nile present in mosquito pools here in Washington, D.C.,” said Peggy Keller, then Chief of the Bureau of Community Hygiene and Animal Disease Prevention in the D.C. Department of Health, “we don’t spray. We’ve learned that the best way to protect the public from both the virus and the pesticides is to intensify our larval program and distribute outreach and education information that emphasizes prevention and protection techniques to the public in the surrounding area.”

STOP THE SPRAYING OF TOXIC PESTICIDES

The “cure” is certainly worse than the disease.

Instead of chemical pesticides, many municipalities use bio-predators of mosquitoes, particularly dragonflies and bats, to control mosquito infestations, with successful results.

* * *

September 22 and 24

Notice of September 22 and 24 Mosquito Spraying in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens (PDF, posted September 17)

• Borough: Manhattan
  • ZIP Codes: 10002, 10003, 10004, 10005, 10006, 10007, 10009, 10011, 10012, 10013, 10280, 10282, 10038
  • Neighborhoods: Alphabet City, Chinatown, Civic Center, East Village, Financial District, Greenwich Village, Hunson Square, Lower Manhattan, Noho, Nolita, Seaport, Soho, Tribeca, Two Bridges, West Village, Ukrainian Village
  • Map: Locations of September 22 Mosquito Spraying in Manhattan (JPG)
• Borough: Brooklyn and Queens
  • ZIP Codes: 11207, 11208, 11414, 11416, 11417, 11418, 11419, 11420
  • Neighborhoods: Cypress Hills, East New York, Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Little Guyana, New Lots, Old Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, South Richmond Hill, Starrett City, The Hole, Woodhaven
  • Map: Locations of September 24 Mosquito Spraying in Brooklyn and Queens (JPG)