Subject: SPRAY TRUCK DRIVERS SICKENED BY PESTICIDES GO PUBLIC-------
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 08:11:13 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Carol Browner browner.carol@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article entitled: SPRAY TRUCK
DRIVERS SICKENED BY PESTICIDES GO PUBLIC - EPA ORDERS NY STATE DEC TO
INVESTIGATE WORKERS' CHARGES, NO SPRAY COALITION REVEALS.
New York,
N.Y. -- Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News (front page!) broke the story
on Wednesday (1/24/01) of the spray truck workers who were sickened by last
yearıs massive pesticide spraying. It is a story that the No Spray Coalition
first brought to the attention of NYC officials a month ago, to no avail.
"Juan Gonzalez's article about spray truck drivers
being poisoned by the pesticides they sprayed over New York City last year is
just the beginning of the story," said Meg Feeley, a researcher with the
No Spray Coalition.
Some of the additional information Feeley noted:
The drivers told of testing the spray equipment for 50
trucks, gators and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) every day, releasing large
clouds of Anvil pesticide into the air directly adjacent (well within 100
feet) of the Bronx River, in violation of federal law and endangering the
surrounding residential community.
Spills and open "overpour" containers left
unattended well into December. Videotapes obtained by the No Spray Coalition
confirm the workers' stories. By the time the spray season ended last year,
the depot yard on Bronx River Avenue -- a yard open to children -- was
saturated with pesticides and other chemicals.
Residents of apartment buildings at 860 and 880 Colgate
Avenue, across from the yard, reported that their children had been forced to
use inhalants in increasing numbers and for longer periods to combat asthma,
brought on by the trucks that repeatedly sprayed their neighborhood.
"The workers' situation typifies the Giuliani
administration's approach to the whole pesticide issue -- just sweep it into
the river or throw it up into the air, claim that pesticides are
"safe" and hope no one notices that the Mayor is poisoning the
entire city (particularly children) and the natural environment," said
Mitchel Cohen, an organizer with the No Spray Coalition. Meanwhile, the city
plans to spray again next summer, which is a "cure" far worse than
the mosquito-borne disease it is supposed to prevent.
The No Spray Coalition also revealed the following new
concerns with the city's spray campaign:
* Earlier this month, the federal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered the state Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) to open an investigation into not only the
particular workersı charges but into every aspect of the Department of Healthıs
spray campaign.
* Mayor Giuliani and other city
officials continue to claim, repeatedly, that the pesticides used were
"perfectly safe," a statement that is untrue and in violation of
federal law as advised by NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, in a public
rebuke of the City administration.
* Spray truck drivers have filed
affidavits testifying that they were ordered to spray alongside and over New
York's rivers and large bodies of water, in violation of a number of federal
statutes, including the Clean Water Act -- the basis for one of the lawsuits
filed against NYC -- another fact
that Giuliani has heretofore denied.
* A municipal worker who was sprayed in
the face with Anvil while on the job, has been diagnosed with
"occupational asthma" caused by pesticide spray, by occupational
disease specialists at Mt. Sinai hospital.
* The drivers also provided troubling
evidence against indiscriminate use of Vectolex (BTi), a widely used larvicide
previously said to be "harmless". Fumes from open containers of the
larvicide alongside one driver caused him to become dizzy and lose control of
his vehicle on the FDR Drive, crashing it into the walls and spilling 40
gallons of Anvil all over the highway along the East River.
* An examination of the City's
contracts with Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management, Inc., has turned up
numerous irregularities. The Coalition will have a full report of these in its
next newsletter. On top of that, Clarke was paid $650/hr. per truck in a $4.6
million City contract to control mosquitos by spraying the City. The company
then hired non-union workers at a maximum of $11/hr.
* The No Spray Coalition has filed
papers with the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, appealing a federal
magistrateıs decision to limit the Coalitionıs lawsuit to violations of the
Clean Water Act, citing a number of other federal statutes that the City
violated by its indiscriminate spray campaign.
* The pesticide used by NYC last
summer, Anvil, is made up not only of 10% artificially manufactured Sumithrin
(an estrogen mimicking chemical linked to breast cancer in women and lowered
sperm count in men) but 10% piperonyl butoxide, a suspected carcinogen, and
80% so-called "inert" ingredients such as polyethylbenzene, which is
listed by the EPA as being "potentially toxic," as well as other
chemicals.
Attorney Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law
and Justice Project is representing the spray truck drivers in their workers
compensation case as well as advocating on their behalf with OSHA and the New
York State DEC. Kupferman, in conjunction with Pace Environmental Law Clinic,
is also handling the No Spray Coalitionıs lawsuit against the city.
The No Spray Coalition calls for a complete ban of all
aerial spraying of insecticides over New York City and other urban areas, and
an end to all indiscriminate spraying from trucks and other ground sources.
The Coalition continues its work to educate, inform the public, and challenge
the city's dangerous pesticide spraying.
For more information: No Spray Coalition Hotline: (718)
670-7110; Website: www.NoSpray.org.
Well Mr. Helliker, I believe the only thing that again
killed the mosquitoes in New York was the frost. The laboratory in Wisconsin proved that West Nile Virus can
be transmitted to other birds without any mosquitoes. People are sick from
your "registered" POISONS. It
is against the federal law to say even the labeled use of any of your
"registered" POISONS is "safe" - yet Mayor Giuliani and
many others continue to openly do so with impunity! There are many safe and far more effective (unregistered)
alternatives. Yet, "they'
are already planning to spray these same, useless POISONS on an even greater
scale to "protect" the people from "mosquitoes" next year.
All I can continue to do is ask: "Why"?
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten
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