Press Statement - Against Pesticides NY

[Guest guest]

Since 1999 we have produced mass amounts of data showing how the residents of

NY were being systemically poisoned by these multiple carcinogenic and neuro

damaging, permanently injuring and sensitizing formulations. In addition, we

proved that they environmentally persisted and that the Department of Health

were blatantly lying to the NY citizens. Many NY citizens who called me were

seriously and permanently injured and almost lost their lives and are still

suffering the effects of this. DOH can do whatever the hell they want on the

citizenry and difficult to stop them.

These agents cause a systemic cellular sensitization, such that when a

person who has been exposed to them on a consistent basis, come in contact with

the same agent in another large dose such as a neighborhood spraying, that the

second exposure can cause systemic reactions 10 times greater than the

original exposure. If they use malathion again, you will see a considerable

increase

in heart attacks and pulmonary arrest in the NY area. The combination of

these formulations unhook the central nervous system at two major functioning

junctures and cause permanent systemic injury to the immune system, brain and

organ functions. PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN TO STOP THIS Hometown Terrorism of

Chemical Trespass.

Kind Regards,

Donna M. REILLY

>>The following is the statement Mitchel Cohen recited into the

microphones at Tuesday's (today's) press conference at City Hall in

New York City, on behalf of the No Spray Coalition.

The Press conference was organized by the Interfaith Center on

Corporate Responsibility, chaired by Lowe, and held on behalf

of the Pesticide Action Network North America. Nineteen press

conferences were held today in cities across the United States, and

uplinked onto the satellite network. In NYC, speakers from PANNA, the

Sierra Club, ICCR and the No Spray Coalition received extensive

coverage. Our phones have been ringing off the hook from reporters

seeking additional information.

********************************

Statement of Mitchel Cohen

My name is Mitchel Cohen. I am a founder of the No Spray Coalition

and a member of the coordinating council of the New York State Green

Party. I live in Brooklyn, which – surprisingly – is the most pesticided

county in the entire State of New York.

I want to thank the Pesticide Action Network and the Interfaith Center on

Corporate Responsibility for pulling together this crucial forum, as well

as for their report titled: “Chemical Trespass: Pesiticdes in Our Bodies

and Corporate Accountability.â€

The Centers for Disease Control has found dangerous pesticide

residues in virtually all people living in this country. Among those

pesticides is one, Malathion, that has been much in the news in New

York City and, along with toxic pyrethroids, has been the focus of the No

Spray Coalition’s work.

In 1999 and 2000, the City of New York and the Office of Emergency

Management had, day after day for two months, blanketed the city, its

streets, parks, schools and waterways, with clouds of Malathion and

pyrethroids, from helicopters and trucks. Thousands of people reported

that they were seriously sickened by the spraying. Workers who

administered the malathion, along with other pesticides to kill

mosquitoes, were treated at Mount Sinai Hospital. Doctors diagnosed

them as suffering from “pesticide-related illnessâ€.

Now the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has

issued its new Comprehensive Mosquito Surveillance and Control

Plan: 2004, in which the City takes a number of troubling positions. I

will focus on just two of them here:

First: City officials write that they are again considering using

adulticides containing the pyrethroids resmethrin (Scourge),

permethrin, and sumithrin (Anvil 10+10) – all mixed with the

“suspected†carcinogenic agent piperonyl butoxide. Sumithrin (Anvil), in

studies done by the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, has been found to be

a hormone disruptor with “potential to affect endocrine function in

humans and wildlife.†By mimicking the effects of the hormone

estrogen, the studies cite these pesticides as potential causes of

breast cancer in women and lowered sperm counts in men. In addition

to the pyrethroids, this year the City is also considering using dibrom,

naled, and … a return to MALATHION.

The second statement from the City’s Mosquito Surveillance and

Control Plan to which I want to call attention is the following statement:

“In 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 … [there were] NO CASES of

individuals reporting to emergency departments or seeking care from

their physicians for health complaints related to adulticide exposureâ€

related to the mass spraying of pesticides.

The City is saying, in writing, that over the last four years of spraying,

that not a single person in the entire City was made sick by the

pesticide spraying. The No Spray Coalition alone – our little,

all-volunteer group with virtually no financing and no access to getting

the word out widely – received hundreds of affidavits from individuals

whose health was destroyed by the spraying of pesticides. Some of

those people testified in open court, how they had been sprayed in the

face. We videotaped spraytrucks going down 125th Street in Harlem

spraying any and everyone in sight including children and pregnant

women. The City is now saying, in their new 2004 Control Plan, that

none of this happened, that not a single person – their words, not mine

– were made sick from the spraying of Malathion and the pyrethroids.

The No Spray Coalition rejects New York City official’s LIES and callous

disregard for the health and safety of the people living here, as well as

for the environment. There are many alternatives to the mass use of

toxic pesticides, especially the use of natural predators such as

dragonflies and bats. Unfortunately, the pesticide spraying kills off

mosquitoes’ natural predators, which means that following each round

of spraying more and more mosquitoes are able to fill in those

ecological niches – requiring even more pesticides! Alternatives also

include the City’s hiring of a specialist in non-toxic, organic mosquito

control, which for some reason the City curiously has failed to do. In

addition, such procedures as increasing the frequency of garbage

pickups will reduce the rat population and thus the use of rodenticides,

as groups such as RecycleThis! have taken pains to point out, to deaf

ears.

The No Spray Coalition calls on the City to 1) recall its 2004

Comprehensive Mosquito Surveillance and Control Plan, 2) hold public

hearings on any new plan it is contemplating, and 3) STOP THE

SPRAYING OF PESTICIDES, INCLUDING MALATHION, immediately.