Disease Prevention? Nuisance Control? Poisoning the Planet.

Many are aware of my resistance to the use of methoprene, sumithrin, and resmethrin by Suffolk County Vector Control to control mosquitoes in East Hampton. I can safely say, due to conversations I have had with a variety of people that I believe many others feel the same way I do. In fact, on June 21, 2013 Connecticut passed Public Act 13-197 which prohibits the use or application of methoprene and resmethrin in any storm drain or conveyance for water within their coastal boundary.  It passed their House earlier this month by a landslide vote of 140-1 and starting on Sept. 1, 2013, methoprene and resmethrin will be banned from use in their coastal boundary except in a city with at least 100,000 people and a documented death from West Nile virus. They are not the first to enact such legislation, as Rhode Island and Massachusetts have also passed similar laws.

I have read that a number of Connecticut Senators plan to ask New York state to ban these chemicals as a way to preserve the ecology of coastal waters. Connecticut Environment Committee Representative Shaban stated in an interview "For several years we have listened to the experts who told us that these pesticides could not harm the lobster population – last year, however, we learned that the experts may have been wrong."

These insecticides are meant to poison and kill biological organisms and I have maintained that there are safer ways to reduce mosquitos, and now a neighbouring state agrees!

Suffolk County has not changed its stance regarding their mosquito control methods.  They have already sprayed East Hampton marshlands at least four times this year. Twice with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), which you can confirm by going to their Press Release website, and once on June 18 with methoprene, which is remarkable absent from their website. Why the switch from a safer product back to Methoprene-and why is it not posed on their website?

Last night they sprayed Beach Hampton and Napeague  neighborhoods with resmethrin, (click here for the technical fact sheet) which is “very highly toxic” to freshwater and estuarine fish and freshwater and estuarine invertebrates, “moderately toxic” to birds, “highly toxic” to honey bees and is classified by the U.S. EPA as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans”. (Resmethrin: Report of the Cancer Assessment Review Committee; PC Code: 097801; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, Office of Pesticide Programs, Health Effects Division: Washington, DC, 2005; pp 1-34.)    

I wonder how the County notified the residents other than the press release?? Patch posted an article the day before the spraying, but is that enough?

We should demand a Vector Control program that demonstrates transparency, accountability, and detailed record keeping with public access to all reports. I would like to see Suffolk County Vector Control work toward the goals stated in their 2007 mosquito plan of reducing their use of pesticides by 75% over a 10-year period. Does anyone know how much of this stuff they sprayed in 2007 vs. 2012?

We should work toward ecological management and restoration for mosquito control- not just spraying. We can restore habitat for native species that eat adult mosquitos and their larva like fathead minnows, bats, and birds. We can remove human-made sources of mosquito breeding sites. Public education on how to reduce backyard mosquito breeding sites and how to avoid mosquito bites should be disseminated. Since we must minimize both public health and environmental risks, East Hampton should adopt a sustainable approach to mosquito management that combines biological, physical, and as a last resort, chemical control.

In many communities, chemical control is eliminated through integrated management approaches!  I would like to work toward and promote partnerships and participation amongst stakeholders to achieve effective mosquito control- and am hoping to start a fathead minnow giveaway program for homeowners to place in ponds, rain barrels, unused pools, or any standing freshwater.  In addition, stocking them in standing freshwater locations around our community like the areas sprayed by the County last night, and storm drains and ditches will reduce the number of mosquito larvae and thereby reduce adult mosquitoes! The County and the State DEC are amenable to fathead minnow stocking for mosquito control, but keep in mind that one thimble full of Scourge is enough to kill the trout in an average shallow one acre pond. What are we doing?

I have been told that some residents in the Beach Hampton and Napeague areas cannot get from their car to their door without being bit by a mosquito. I understand the need to control disease, but are we talking nuisance control or disease prevention here? Call Suffolk County Division of Vector Control at  631-852-4270 and ask them, I did!

Do we move into an area and then kill off the species we don’t necessarily like? Should we douse Northwest with tick killing chemicals? Do we move to the mountains and kill all the bears? Cull the deer? Should sharks be allowed to swim in the ocean? Does anyone remember DDT?

Although I would like to believe that the County wants to do more to alert the community prior to spraying, they are falling short. Being notified by a website posting a day before (or, if you look at the dates on the posted notices, a few days after?!) is not adequate.  I would like to see the County place ads in local papers and broadcast public service announcements to alert the public of the date, place, time, method, type, and amount of pesticides they plan to apply.  I have been told that the County cannot provide such detailed information to the public due to weather and other constraints, but I do not think that is appropriate. 

If they can figure out how to spray chemicals from trucks and helicopters according to their four+ million dollar taxpayer-funded plan, they should be able to figure out how to alert us beforehand. At the very least, a few days’ notice with even tentative days could be quite useful to the public. 

The County chooses to apply these chemicals here, so it is their responsibility to alert us, in advance, before every application. 

As I started above, I am not the only person who is concerned about the use of these chemicals in East Hampton or other northeast states, for that matter. The dichotomy between Connecticut’s rationale to ban these chemicals and New York insistence to use them is stark. What should be interesting is how these states will work out their differences when these chemicals are found in the Long Island Sound and its inhabitants in the future. 

PS Ive uploaded a document that reports on the success of an "open Water Marsh Management" project where they eliminated pesticides by altering the old 'mosquito ditches" to small ponds and adding fish.