Neighbor
Notification of Pesticide Spraying
What
Neighbor Notification Means to You
Neighborhood Network
is now working to educate Long Islanders about how the new Neighbor
Notification law will effect them. The new law will give people
the information they need to protect their families and their
property from unwanted exposure to pesticides when pesticides
are sprayed on neighboring properties.
When is Notice Required?
Notice, at least 48
hours prior to the spraying, is required to be given by the professional
applicator who is doing the spraying of a pesticide, not by the
homeowner. The notice must be in written form, and is given only
to homeowners in the properties that are immediately adjacent
to the property being sprayed, and also only within 150 ft from
the point of spray. So, if the property line of the neighbor is
more than 150 feet from the area being sprayed, no notice is required.
Some exceptions for notice are made for pesticides that are considered
"minimum risk" or "reduced risk" by the federal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- see the list below.
Notice is Not Required:
• to properties
further than 150 feet from the site of application;
• when safer materials are used, including boric acid, horticultural
soaps and oils, and products classified by the EPA as minimum
risk (such as garlic oil, corn gluten, or biological controls);
• for small, non-pressurized "spot-applications;"
• for use of small aerosol cans against biting or stinging
insects;
• for insect or rodent baits in tamper-resistant containers;
• in emergencies to protect against an imminent threat to
human health (in this case a good faith effort to notify neighbors
immediately prior to application must be made).
What Is Required of
Residents?
The law also includes
a requirement for residents making applications to their own lawns
to place markers in the treated area, if the area treated is 100
sq ft (10' x10') or more, as professional applicators
are already required to do for all applications. Stores that sell
pesticides for use on lawns will be required to post signs near
where pesticides are displayed that inform consumers of this new
marker requirement, urge consumers to follow label instructions
on the pesticides they are using, and recommend that they notify
neighbors before using pesticides.
What Must the Notice
Include?
• the address
where the application is to be made;
• the name, telephone number, and Department of Environmental
Conservation registration number of the business making the application;
• the name and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration
number of the product being applied;
• the date of the application and two rain dates, in case
of inclement weather;
• a statement that the residents "may wish to take precautions
to minimize pesticide exposure."
When Does The Law
Take Effect?
Neighbor Notification
will go into effect on March 1, 2001. Counties must vote in advance
to opt in, to allow the law to go into effect on that date. Both
Nassau and Suffolk County Legislatures have voted to opt in.
What About Notice
at Schools?
Children are especially
susceptible to the toxic effects of pesticide exposure. So, in
addition to Neighbor Notification and residential lawn posting,
the bill includes requirements for school and daycare facilities
to inform parents of pesticide applications. Schools will have
to send notices of pesticides used in schools and on school grounds
to parents three times during the school year stating what has
actually been sprayed and when, since the last notice. Also at
the beginning of the year, schools must provide parents &
staff with information on how they can sign up to be on a list
to get 48 hour prior notification for each individual application
made. Schools must then provide the people on this list 48 hour
notice. Daycare facilities will be required to post conspicuous
notices 48 hours prior to pesticide applications. The school and
daycare provisions apply state-wide, with no opt in necessary.
They go into effect July 1, 2001 so it will take effect on the
2001-2002 school year.
How Can Neighborhood
Network Help Me?
If you have other questions
about the new law, contact us at 516-543-4321. Neighborhood Network
offers speakers on this subject if you would like to host a workshop
for a local community group.
To
Report Suspected Violations of Neighbor Notification:
call
the
Nassau Department of Health
516-571-3641
or
the
Suffolk Department of Health
631-853-2250 or 853-5810
To
report other suspected violations of pesticide regulations call
the
NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
regional office:
631-444-0340
A
Brief History of Neighbor Notification Legislation
New York State Enacts:
Prior Neighbor Notification of Pesticide Spraying Law
Syosset (8-21-2000):
Governor Pataki signs the Neighbor Notification of Pesticide Spraying
Law, praising it as: "Historic, first-in-the-Nation legislation
that will empower people to protect their families." The
signing capped a 9-year effort which sprang from Long Island.
The issue began when
a Neighborhood Network member called the organization and told
the then staff attorney about a pesticide exposure incident her
infant child was subjected to in their home on a beautiful summer
day in 1992. A proposal for legislation to protect families from
unnecessary exposures to toxic chemicals was presented to Assemblyman
Tom DiNapoli by the Neighborhood Network. DiNapoli championed
the reform and early in the 1993 session, he drafted and became
the Assembly Prime Sponsor of the Prior Neighbor Notice of Pesticide
Spraying bill. Senator Carl Marcellino boosted the effort when
upon his election to the Senate, he became Prime Sponsor of a
Senate version of the bill in his first term in 1995. Each year,
the Neighborhood Network got the word out and generated thousands
of letters and phone calls from members in support of the bill,
but it was strongly opposed by the chemical industry and by up-state
farmers.
However, the demand
for prior notice had caught fire and could not be stopped. Prior
notice was basic common sense, and as such, it was intensely popular.
Providing the public with information also represented a strategic
assault on the chemical industry by creating an informed and empowered
citizenry. What had started as an environmental protection effort
had grown into an "environmental-health rights" movement.
The combined efforts of a broad coalition of homeowners, environmental
groups, and breast cancer action organizations took the movement
state-wide. Upon becoming a top environmental priority, Albany-based
environmental groups suggested adding school notices to the bill,
which greatly enhanced its already strong public support.
By the time the bill
became law, with the hard work of the prime sponsors Assemblyman
DiNapoli and Senator Marcellino, and their staffs, the legislation
had also become the most comprehensive reform of New York pesticide
laws in more than a generation. And as an historic, first-the-Nation
statute, it is likely to clear the way for additional environmental
advancements. Clearly,
a collaborative accomplishment worthy of celebration.
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