ACTIVISTS FILE LAWSUIT SEEKING HALT TO PESTICIDE SPRAYING

The plaintiffs allege that the city failed to apply for the appropriate permits, neglected to conduct Environmental Impact Statements, and violated pesticide product label restrictions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the federal pesticide-control law. 

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Subject:  ACTIVISTS FILE LAWSUIT SEEKING HALT TO PESTICIDE SPRAYING
Date:  Sun, 23 Jul 2000 09:19:49 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:  Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To:  undisclosed-recipients: ;

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CONTACT:  Cathryn Swan - July 20, 2000,  #212/343-2209 or Mitchel Cohen,

#718/449-0037.

ACTIVISTS FILE LAWSUIT SEEKING HALT TO PESTICIDE SPRAYING

IN LIGHT OF THREATS TO HEALTH AND SAFETY, LEGAL VIOLATIONS

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Environmental activists today filed suit against the City of New York in federal court today for violations of federal and state environmental statutes in the city¹s mosquito-control pesticide-spray program.  Activists charge the city with engaging in unlawful discharge of toxic chemicals into and over air, land and waters around New York City, which has put the health of residents at serious risk and threatens critical environmental wildlife habitat.  They have asked the court to stop the spraying because of the health and safety risks and violations of the approved labels and the law.

The suit lists a series of violations associated with the 1999 spraying in which hazardous insecticides were sprayed from helicopters and trucks.  This week, the city began spraying of a hazardous pesticide in Staten Island.  Activists tie the pesticides in use at the time and proposed for use this  season to dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, skin irritation, loss of coordination, twitching and seizures, as well as delayed long-term neurotoxic effects, including optic and peripheral neuropathy.  The pesticides may also be a cause of breast cancer.  

The suit is being brought by the New York City-based No Spray Coalition, Disabled in Action, Save Organic Standards - NY and the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides.  Also on the suit as plaintiffs are city residents Robert Lederman, Valerie Sheppard, Eva Yaa Asantewaa and  Mitchel Cohen.

According to the lawsuit, wind currents caused pesticides to draft or were directly sprayed over water bodies of New York City, accumulating in the city¹s waters and sediments, harming aquatic invertebrates and aquatic life stages of amphibians, fish, shellfish and other organisms.  Also  stated as a concern is the impact of the spraying on critical environmental habitats for birds, including migratory and uncommon species.  

The lawsuit charges violations of the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation Recovery Act, the State Environmental Quality Review Act, and the City Environmental Quality Review regulations.  The plaintiffs allege that the city failed to apply for the appropriate permits, neglected to conduct Environmental Impact Statements, and violated pesticide product label restrictions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the federal pesticide-control law.  

"The spraying continued without concern for risk to people with asthma or compromised immune systems," said Eva Yaa Asantewaa, a Plaintiff and board member of the No Spray Coalition.  "Our neighborhoods have a very high number of both, particularly among people of color."  

Due to pressure from anti-pesticide activists, the city has been forced to stop future use of malathion, but sprayed Staten Island with sumithrin. Sumithrin and resmithrin, another pesticide used by the city, are pyrethroids.  Inhaling pyrethroid insecticides can cause coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, runny or stuffy nose, chest pain or difficulty breathing.  Skin contact can cause a rash, itching, or blisters. According to Mitchel Cohen, of the No Spray Coalition and the Brooklyn Greens, "The  brand of sumithrin used by the city, Anvil, includes piperonyl butoxide, which can cause skin and eye irritation.  All the health effects of this chemical have not been fully researched, but pyrethroids could be a cause of breast cancer - laboratory tests have indicated the disruption of the endocrine system by mimicking the effects of the female sex hormone estrogen."  

Without having studied the environmental impacts and without having set up provisions for enabling people to report medical problems, the city government began a massive aerial and ground pesticide-spray program last September and has not ruled out a resumption of that program for this  year.  

Jay Feldman, executive director of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental organization said, "The city has overstepped the boundaries of safety and law in the handling of its mosquito prevention and management program, exposing  the public to hazardous pesticides."  

Counsel in the case are Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic and New York Environmental Law and Justice Project.  

Defendants named in the suit include the City of New York, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, the Department of Health of the City of New York, City Health Commissioner Neal Cohen, the Office of Emergency Management of the City of New York and former OEM Commissioner Jerome Hauer.  

Way to go guys!  Steve

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