23 Years On: NYC to Spray Toxic Pesticides Over ALL of Central Park, Upper West Side, Manhattan, Bklyn, Queens, Bronx THIS WEEK

When will it end? For the 23^rd year, New York City officials continue to spray toxic pesticides to “control” West Nile virus

On Thursday, September 15^th, the city will spray ALL of 843-acre Central Park with pesticides as well as the Upper West Side 

The city plans to spray large swaths of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx this week, including Central Park, the Upper West Side, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Ozone Park, East New York, Howard Beach, Carnegie Hill, Harlem, East Harlem and more on September 13^th & 15^th

The massive pesticide spraying in New York City began in 1999 under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who gave ludicrous rationales from his World Trade Center bunker – and continues three mayors later with Mayor Eric Adams.

Since its inception, this spray “program” to kill mosquitoes said to be carrying the West Nile virus has never been properly reviewed by any city agency despite the continued use of toxic, harmful, and carcinogenic chemicals over the city’s population and environment. The spraying this week will take place on Tuesday, September 13^th and Thursday, September 15^th; these are the 13^th and 14^th adulticide pesticide spraying “events” for this season.

The pyrethroid pesticides being sprayed have been shown to be harmful to human health and the health of the eco-system, including animals, birds, wildlife, insects, and more. These pesticides kill off natural predators of mosquitoes, including dragonflies and bats. This is particularly deadly when being sprayed over an 843-acre park such as Central Park, not to mention all the other city neighborhoods being exposed across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. This is the first (and likely only) time this season Manhattan has been sprayed but it’s a very large area. Spraying occurs by trucks with pesticides fogged from the back of it. Neighborhoods in Staten Island and all the other boroughs have been sprayed repeatedly this summer.

The city has announced it will again be spraying pyrethroid pesticides, Anvil® 10+10 or Duet®, equally harmful, containing not only synthetic sumithrin but cancer-causing piperonyl butoxide.

Last year, a new pesticides law passed the NY City Council unanimously. It was intended to greatly reduce the use of pesticides. Yet 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 last few years have been especially brutal, as people fight to protect their lungs and respiratory systems from the Covid-19 virus, only to come under attack by the City’s poisonous spraying.

At the same time, 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, there is no evidence that the number of mosquitoes, let alone those that carry West Nile virus, has EVER been diminished by pesticide spraying. 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 human endocrine system, but greatly reduce sperm counts — all follow in the wake of the pesticides.

In 2000, Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law & Justice Project, in conjunction with Pace Environmental Law Clinic, filed a lawsuit against the spraying, with the No Spray Coalition as lead plaintiff. The No Spray Coalition was joined by Beyond Pesticides, Disabled in Action, and Save Organic Standards as co-Plaintiffs.

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 points in the case, the City was compelled to negotiate a settlement with the No Spray Coalition.

Yet to this date the city of New York sprays on.

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

As part of the 2007 decision in the No Spray Coalition’s lawsuit, the City admitted, signed and in writing stipulated 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 has never performed a “thorough environmental review and epidemiologic analysis” of the pesticide spraying. Being sprayed in the face or caught in the fogging is considered “low level(s) of exposure.”

New Yorkers have filed numerous complaints; many of their pets died as well. And yet City officials have said they couldn’t find anyone sickened by the spraying despite evidence provided in Court by the Plaintiffs and thousands of calls to pesticides hotlines.

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.

Toxicologist Dr. Robert Simon, who took soil samples from around the city following the first year of spraying and whose testimony in court was extremely damning to the city’s spray program, states: “The only solution is another lawsuit against the 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.”

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)
• 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, and released its report in 2012 based on statistics provided by the health departments of 14 major cities. Its conclusion: “Results show no significant difference in West Nile virus rates between communities that spray and those that don’t.”

IT IS TIME TO STOP THE MASS SPRAYING OF TOXIC PESTICIDES

Instead of chemical pesticides, many municipalities use bio-predators of mosquitoes, particularly dragonflies and bats, to control mosquito infestations, with successful results. But, in the end, the unnecessary mass spraying of toxic pesticides does more harm than good.

Spray Areas Brooklyn & Queens Tuesday, September 13^th:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/images/wnv/2022/wnv-notice-20220913-map-bk-qn.jpg

Spray Areas Bronx Thursday, September 15^th:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/images/wnv/2022/wnv-notice-20220915-map-bx.jpg

Spray Areas Manhattan Thursday, September 15^th:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/images/wnv/2022/wnv-notice-20220915-map-mn.jpg

New York City Department of Health page announcing upcoming spraying September 13 & 15, 2022.