Filed Under: Environmental Issues | Long Island | Nassau | Public Health | Public Health | Water

Pesticide Application Warning

Pesticides

Pesticide and herbicide use on agricultural crops, golf courses, and lawns is one of the greatest sources of pollution in New York State.  Pesticide runoff can seep into the ground and enter drinking water sources.  Exposure to pesticides has been linked to many health problems including nervous system disorders, breast and other cancers, headaches, and nausea.  Studies have also shown that neurotoxic pesticides can result in permanent neurological dysfunction.  Because of the dangerous overuse of pesticides that suburban Nassau County has experienced, environmentalists and politicians have both began to focus on the many safe and organic alternatives to pesticides.

Nassau County implemented an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program designed by the Cornell Cooperative Extension in 1995 that calls for using alternatives to chemical pesticides when possible on all county property, thus decreasing the amount of pesticides released into the environment as non-point source pollution.  Nassau County also has an IPM Committee composed of county employees.  New York State has its own IPM in place as well.  Nassau County also has a Pesticide Advisory Committee made up of county employees and environmental and civic group members that educates businesses and homeowners on the IPM. The Pesticide Advisory Committee has advocated increased restrictions on pesticide use and has been very successful in reducing the use of pesticides, especially within indoor county facilities.

In July of 1996, at the urging of Long Island environmental groups, the NYS Legislature passed the Pesticide Registry Law which requires tracking of pesticide sales for commercial and farm use by retailers throughout the state.  Pesticide use is listed in a registry by zip code, but not by individual property, and the information is available to health researchers and the public.  The legislation also created a Health Research Science Board within the NYS Department of Health and a new water quality monitoring system at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

Long Island environmentalists achieved an additional victory with the passage of the Neighborhood Notification Law in 2000.  According to the NYS DEC, which monitors the program, the law, which amends the state Environmental Conservation Law, requires that 48-hour notice to neighbors be given for certain commercial lawn applications.  Under the law, visual notification markers for most residential lawn applications must be posted, notice must be provided to occupants of multiple dwellings and other occupied structures, and an information sign by retailers who sell general use lawn pesticides must also be displayed.  The law is only in effect in those counties that choose to “opt in” to the law, and both Nassau and Suffolk County have opted in.  In addition to informing residents about pesticide use near their homes, this law also encourages the use of alternatives to toxic pesticides, effectively reducing the presence of pesticides in our land and water.

Involved Government Agencies: NYS Department of Health, NYS DEC, the Nassau County Legislature, County Department of Health, and the Pesticide Advisory Committee. 

What you can do:

1. Use the least toxic or nontoxic products for treating your lawn. For more information on alternatives check www.grassrootsinfo.org 
2. Make sure your school complies with the New York State Neighbor Notification Law, which requires every school to establish a pesticide notification registry for advance notification of any school pesticide application and to provide universal notification to all parents summarizing all school pesticide use. Application must be made by parents to receive the pesticide notice. Parents can also work with schools to implement an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan for non-toxic alternatives. For more information, go to www.healthyschools.org
3. Be aware that pesticides are in many products. Try to avoid purchasing products that contain them. These can include: swimming pool chemicals, soap (antimicrobials), paints, wallpaper (fungicides), shelving paper, and mothballs. There are even pesticides in the "edible" waxes on fruits and vegetables. You can find more about hidden pesticides at www.checnet.org
4. Avoid purchase of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood. This lumber, commonly known as “pressure-treated,” has been used extensively in a variety of outdoor building projects including decks, fencing, picnic tables, playgrounds and railroad ties often used for gardens. Recent testing shows that high levels of carcinogenic arsenic leaches from the CCA treated lumber and can get on children’s clothing and hands. There is no “safe level” of arsenic exposure in children.
5. Protect your child from mosquitoes and ticks by having them wear long sleeves and pants at hours that mosquitoes bite and in grassy areas and woods. It is important to follow safety precautions when using insecticides with DEET in children. Do not use DEET on the hands of young children; avoid applying to areas around the eyes and mouth. Avoid spraying in enclosed areas and near food. The percent of DEET should generally not be more than 10% in children. Wash treated skin with soap and water after returning indoors. DEET products are not recommended for children under 2 months. There are plant based less toxic repellants but some studies show them to be markedly less effective.
6. Check if chemical treatments are being used for weed or insect control at the fields where your child plays sports. Request that recreational directors in charge of community athletic fields implement an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan with stated yearly goals of pesticide reduction and use of least toxic pesticides. 
     

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer WalkLong Island breast cancer advocates had strong suspicions that perceived elevated breast cancer rates in Nassau and Suffolk Counties were caused by pollution in the environment, and they lobbied Congress to investigate possible environmental causes of breast cancer.  Statistical analysis shows that while Long Island breast cancer rates are high, they are only considered to be at an average level compared to the rates of similarly affluent suburbs across the country.  Nevertheless, in 1993 Congress ordered the National Cancer Institute to study “environmental and other risk factors contributing to the incidence of breast cancer,” with a specific directive to look at the possible negative effects of contaminated drinking water, air pollution, electromagnetic fields, and pesticides.  A $30 million dollar federal project encompassing multiple smaller studies, the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project was initiated by the National Cancer Institute initiated in March of 1995.

An $8 million study that was part of the project examined 1,000 Nassau and Suffolk women found that a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer are not affected by the presence of four toxic chemicals that have been illegal for many years: a breakdown product of the pesticide DDT, the pesticides chlordane and dieldrin, and the industrial insulators known as PCBs.  This and other components of the study led involved scientists to conclude that there is no major link between the environment and breast cancer.

Many Long Island breast cancer activists, however, are skeptical at the results of the study and question the methodology and scientific reasoning behind it.  Critics say that the study only explored four toxins that were banned decades ago as opposed to studying thousands of other suspected carcinogens that are still present in the environment. Many Long Island activists believe the study did not go far enough.