Pushing for Pesticide-Use Study
Subject: Pushing for Pesticide-Use Study
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 15:52:55 -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: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
January 28, 2002
Pushing for Pesticide-Use Study - Suffolk's critics say spraying needs review
By Michael Rothfeld STAFF WRITER
Long Island environmentalists appear to be making headway with demands that Suffolk County study what threat its mosquito control program, the largest in the Northeast, poses to wildlife and people. The county's Division of Vector Control, which is seeking legislative approval of its 2002 work plan, contends it now uses less of the more harmful chemicals that kill adult mosquitoes and employs more environmentally friendly water management techniques that target breeding grounds.
But local environmental groups have lashed into the county, saying it does not adequately scrutinize the pesticides it does use to stop mosquitoes from bothering residents and spreading disease. Instead, critics say, the county relies on studies that are outdated or not germane to Suffolk's marine habitat. Some have tried to link the pesticides to deaths of fish, shrimp and crabs.
"We're saying Suffolk County has neglected to do any kind of monitoring or evaluation in terms of how these products are affecting the environment and the public's health," said Adrienne Esposito of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
State Department of Environmental Conservation officials, meanwhile, have issued the county 14 violations for misusing pesticides in the past two years.
"It raises concerns about the county's attention to detail," DEC regional director Ray Cowen said. Two violations came after an Aug. 7 incident in which the county sprayed Scourge, a pesticide product lethal to fish, within 21 feet and 41 feet of water at two sites in Flanders. Scourge's instructions require a 150-foot distance, state officials said.
Hundreds of dead grass shrimp and baby flounder were found at one of those sites five days later. Kevin McAllister, the Peconic baykeeper, has accused the county of causing the fish kill. Dominick Ninivaggi, Suffolk's superintendent of vector control, said the deaths probably resulted from low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, arguing that the pesticide's active ingredient, Resmethrin, would have dissipated into the atmosphere too quickly to cause any harm.
Cowen said tests McAllister did to link pesticides to the fish kill were "not compelling." Cowen also said the state would examine the county's pesticide use during its review of a water management permit that is required for work in shoreline areas where mosquitoes breed.
The state violations were issued for use of a pesticide not registered with the DEC; application of incorrect amounts of pesticides; improper storage of pesticides; failure to keep accurate records; and other infractions.The county applied adulticides, which kill grown mosquitoes, to 18,000 acres last year, down from 68,000 in 2000. The decrease was due to dry conditions, more larvicide use to kill the bugs in infancy and less West Nile activity.
Environmentalists now are asking Suffolk lawmakers to issue a "positive declaration" on the vector control division's 2002 work plan. That would mean the work is expected to have a significant impact on the environment, and a full review would be required under state law. It also would prevent mosquito control until the study is finished. On Jan. 16, members of the Council on Environmental Quality, a legislative advisory board, nearly recommended a formal study of the 2002 plan but delayed action so the county could make revisions.
Ninivaggi said a study could cost $1 million, nearly half the division's $2.5-million budget, to examine pesticides already approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "I think the studies that have been done [elsewhere] are sufficient to show that significant impacts are very unlikely," Ninivaggi said. If the county cannot spray, he added, it could lead to outbreaks of West Nile virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis or malaria. The county could resume applying pesticides in an emergency. Legis. George Guldi (D-Westhampton Beach), who held an October hearing on the fish kill, said the county's health department and its citizens' oversight panel should be authorized to monitor the mosquito program.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
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