{"id":29108,"date":"2021-04-23T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T04:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=29108"},"modified":"2021-04-26T13:58:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T17:58:19","slug":"new-york-city-council-passes-landmark-law-eliminating-the-use-of-toxic-pesticides-in-city-parks-and-playgrounds-stipulates-list-of-allowed-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/04\/new-york-city-council-passes-landmark-law-eliminating-the-use-of-toxic-pesticides-in-city-parks-and-playgrounds-stipulates-list-of-allowed-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Council Passes Landmark Law Eliminating the Use of Toxic Pesticides in City Parks and Playgrounds, Stipulates List of Allowed Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

It all started with New York City public school teacher Paula Rogovin and her kindergarten class. They went down to city call, wrote letters, shared artwork, and got the attention of Council Member Ben Kallos, who sponsored reform legislation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, April 23, 2021) Yesterday, on Earth Day, the New York City Council passed landmark legislation to eliminate the use of toxic pesticides in parks and playgrounds. This new law eliminates the use of toxic pesticides, like glyphosate\/Roundup, codifying a ban on pesticides with an allowance for only those permitted under federal organic standards.<\/p>\r\n

A few hours before passage of the bill, Intro. 1524<\/a> (see detailed factsheet below), the measure\u2019s sponsor, Council Member Ben Kallos, and the Speaker of the Council, Corey Johnson, \u00a0were joined at a press conference by: Bertha Lewis, president of the Black Institute; those who began the movement for the legislation, retired teacher Paula Rogovin and some of her fomer students from Public School (PS) 290 in Manhattan; Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides; and, Patti and Doug \u00a0Wood, executive director and program director, respectively, of Grassroots Environmental Education.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cParks should be for playing not pesticides,\u201d said Council Member Ben Kallos. \u201cAll families should be able to enjoy our city parks without having to worry that they are being exposed to toxic pesticides that could give them and their families cancer. I look forward to working with all of our city agencies to ban toxic pesticides and keep our children safe.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe no longer burn coal in our buildings, we don’t light our offices with gas lamps, and we shouldn’t be using toxic and dangerous chemicals in our public spaces,\u201d said Council Speaker Corey Johnson ahead of the vote. \u201cOur NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority] residents deserve and our families enjoying a day in the park deserve better. New Yorkers deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThis legislation goes beyond banning a specific pesticide and recognizes that toxic pesticides across the board have no place in our municipal parks and playgrounds and that alternative practices and products are available for effective and resilient land management,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Bertha Lewis, president of The Black Institute, speaking at press conference with bill sponsor Council Member Ben Kallos.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

said Mr. Feldman.<\/p>\r\n

In its report, Poison Parks<\/em>, The Black Institute, points out the disproportionate harm to people of color neighborhoods in New York City, and documents that the city landscapers who handle dangerous pesticides are almost all black and brown people. Ms. Lewis pointed out that this disproportionate harm is a classic example of environmental racism.<\/p>\r\n

According to Beyond Pesticides, the approach to land care specified by Intro 1524 identifies an allowed substance list (National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances under federal organic law) to ensure that the products and practices used are compatible with the organic systems that protect people and local ecology, including the waterways that surround New York City. \u201cIt is this approach to pesticide reform that will effectively stop the unnecessary use of hazardous pesticides applied in parks and public spaces throughout the city,\u201d said Mr. Feldman.<\/p>\r\n

While addressing urgent local concerns related to public health and the environment, passage of this law in New York City makes an important contribution to confronting the climate and the escalating biodiversity crises, including pollinator declines. Petroleum-based, synthetic pesticides release carbon into the environment, as a result of their manufacture and use, and their application to landscapes results in the lost opportunity to sequester atmospheric carbon in organic soil systems.<\/p>\r\n

According to public health advocates, by restricting pesticide use, the City will provide critical protections for community health, particularly for children, the elderly, and vulnerable population groups that suffer from compromised immune and neurological systems, cancer, reproductive problems, respiratory illness and asthma, Parkinson\u2019s, Alzheimer\u2019s, diabetes, or learning disabilities. The legislation meets an urgent need for hazard reduction at a time of increasing awareness of the danger that pesticides pose to human health and the environment, exacerbating the immunological, neurological, and respiratory risks associated with COVID-19. Advocates also point out that neither the U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) nor the responsible state agencies (in New York, the Department of Environmental Conservation, but Departments of Agriculture in most of the country) are not adequately protection people and the environment from pesticides, creating an urgency for local action like New York City took yesterday.<\/p>\r\n

Beyond Pesticides\u2019 Jay Feldman delivered this statement in New York City at a press conference on pesticide ban bill, April 22, at Stanley Isaacs Playground:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Earth Day is about local action. This legislation, Intro 1524, brings New York City into the modern era of parks and playground management, recognizing the hazards of pesticides and the viability and benefits of organic practices and materials that protect health and the environment.<\/p>\r\n

Pesticides are associated with adverse health effects that are familiar to us\u2014cancer and immune, neurological, and respiratory issues. They increase vulnerability or exacerbate adverse health conditions.
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\r\nThis legislation intersects with the city’s goal to become carbon net neutral\u2014by eliminating petroleum- based pesticides\u2014as we confront the climate crisis and the collapse of biodiversity.
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\r\nThe work does not end here. It begins here. What does that mean?<\/p>\r\n

The resources are available to work with parks to adopt organic land management. Organic has been widely adopted in agriculture and the same soil management practices are being used in parks across the country. People and groups like Beyond Pesticides and companies like Stonyfield Organic and Osborne Organics are standing by and ready to lend their expertise. Stonyfield is offering $60,000 in resources to this effort. Some park conservancies in the city, including the Brooklyn Bridge and Battery Park, are leaders on organic landscape management and serve as models for parks across the city.
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\r\nWe have reached an exciting moment for New York City with this legislation. The legislation puts the city in a position to protect more people and the largest acreage of parks, playgrounds, and waterways than any other jurisdiction in the country.<\/p>\r\n

Beyond Pesticides<\/strong> is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting health and the environment with science, policy, and action to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides.<\/p>\r\n

FACTS-AT-A-GLANCE:
\r\n<\/strong>Intro 1524: Protecting New York City Residents from Toxic Pesticides
\r\n<\/strong>(See factsheet pdf<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

Intro 1524<\/strong><\/a>, introduced by City Councilmember Ben Kallos, will safeguard New York City residents by eliminating the use of toxic pesticides on all NYC property. These protections are critical for vulnerable populations like children, elderly, and pregnant mothers. Those exposed to toxic pesticides in city parks as residents and as city workers managing sites are disproportionately people of color. While existing Local Law 37 made important progress in reducing some dangerous pesticides on the market, it continues to permit a range of synthetic chemicals linked to chronic health effects in people and population declines in wildlife like bees, butterflies, and birds. There is now greater understanding of pesticide dangers, and the healthy, sustainable practices and products that can successfully replace all toxic pesticide use. Intro 1524 restricts the use of toxic pesticides on NYC property in favor of materials regulated as organic or designated minimum risk\u2014the least-toxic on the market. Intro 1524 is an opportunity to improve the health and safety of NYC workers, residents, and their pets, improve the city\u2019s air and water quality, protect threatened wildlife populations like pollinators, and fight the climate crisis.<\/p>\r\n

Background on Current Practices<\/strong><\/p>\r\n