When Will it End?
This upcoming week, large areas of Brooklyn [Williamsburg, Greenpoint, East New York, Crown Heights, more] and Queens [Rockaway, Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor, more] will be sprayed with poisons
For the 26th year, New York City continues its toxic pesticide spraying to “control” West Nile Virus
New York City’s Department of Health has announced more pesticide spraying in two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, on September 16th and 18th. The Brooklyn evening spraying will include Williamsburg, East Williamsburg, Greenpoint, East New York, Crown Heights, Ridgewood, and more; Queens pesticide spraying to include Rockaway, Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor. [Map of area at end of post.]
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 Once again City officials are disingenuous, relying on outdated science and impact reviews, rubber stamping waiver requests, failing once again to encourage incident reporting and issuing advisories to the public health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
Instead of chemical pesticides, many municipalities use bio-predators of mosquitoes, particularly dragonflies and bats, to control mosquito infestations, with successful results.
After carefully reviewing the claims made for the effectiveness of spraying and weighing the risk of the virus with that of pesticide exposure, the City of Lyndhurst, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland), became the first to pass an ordinance prohibiting the spraying of pesticides to control the spread of WNV.
Would that the city of New York would learn something from its neighbor near Cleveland.
* * *
Pesticide Spray Schedule in Brooklyn and Queens (Note: Manhattan has not been sprayed this year):
September 16 and 18
Notice of September 16 and 18 Mosquito Spraying in Brooklyn and Queens (PDF, posted September 11)
- Borough: Brooklyn and Queens
- ZIP Codes: 11206, 11207, 11208, 11211, 11212,11221, 11222, 11233, 11237, 11385
- Neighborhoods: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Broadway Junction, Broadway Triangle, Brownsville, Bushwick, Crown Heights, Cypress Hills, East New York, East Williamsburg, Glendale, Greenpoint, New Lots, Ridgewood, South Williamsburg, Williamsburg
- Map: Locations of September 16 Mosquito Spraying in Brooklyn and Queens (JPG)
- Borough: Queens
- ZIP Codes: 11691, 11692, 11693, 11694
- Neighborhoods: Arverne, Bayswater, Belle Harbor, Edgemere, Far Rockaway, Neponsit, Rockaway Beach, Rockaway Park, Wave Crest
- Map: Locations of September 18 Mosquito Spraying in Queens (JPG)
Department of Health Press Release re: Pesticide Spraying 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 2025
HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO SPRAY FOR ADULT MOSQUITOES IN PARTS OF BROOKLYN AND QUEENS TO REDUCE RISK OF WEST NILE VIRUS
Trucks Will Spray Pesticide in Parts of Brooklyn and Queens on the Nights of September 16 and 18, 2025, Weather Permitting
NEW YORK — To reduce mosquito activity and the risk of West Nile virus, the Health Department will
conduct adulticide treatments in parts of the Brooklyn and Queens.
Trucks will spray pesticides in sections of the Brooklyn and Queens beginning Tuesday, September 16, 2025 between the hours of 8:30 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. the following morning, weather permitting. In case of bad weather, application in Brooklyn and Queens will be delayed until Wednesday, September 17, 2025, between the hours of 8:30 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. the following morning, weather permitting.
Trucks will spray pesticides in sections of Queens beginning Thursday, September 18, 2025 between the hours of 12:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M. weather permitting. In case of bad weather, application in Queens will be delayed until Monday, September 22, 2025, between the hours of 8:30 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. the following morning, weather permitting.
The Health Department will use very low concentrations of Anvil®, Duet®, or MERUS® 3. The risks of pesticides applied by the Health Department for mosquito control are low to people and pets. Some people who are sensitive to spray ingredients may experience short-term eye or throat irritation, or a rash. People with respiratory conditions may also be affected.
To stay safe during spraying
• Stay indoors, whenever possible.
• Air conditioners can remain on. While unnecessary, you may wish to close air conditioner vents or
choose the recirculate function.
After spraying
• Wash skin and clothing exposed to pesticides with soap and water.
• Always wash fruits and vegetables with water. New Yorkers are also encouraged to mosquito-proof
their homes and take precautions when spending time outdoors.
Reducing exposure to mosquitoes
• Use an approved insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (not for
children under 3), or products that contain the active ingredient IR3535.
• Make sure windows have screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or holes.
• Eliminate any standing water from your property and dispose of containers that can collect water.
Standing water is a violation of the New York City Health Code.
• Make sure roof gutters are clean and draining properly.
• Clean and chlorinate swimming pools, outdoor saunas and hot tubs. Keep them empty or covered if
not in use. Drain water that collects in pool covers.