Green Decade Collecting Emails for Herbicide Notification List

by Ellie Goldberg

Got Herbicides?  The MBTA, the Turnpike, the Highway Department, DCR Urban Parks and CSX Railway plan to spray herbicides in Newton this summer.  

According to the Vegetation Management Plans*, the chemical products they use are Roundup-Pro or Razor-Pro alone or in combination with Arsenal, Escort XP, Oust Extra or Oust XP. 

The MBTA will spray tracks and ballast areas and the brush on the immediate perimeter sometime in late July and twice in late August, according to applicator Mark Lacombe from Northern Tree Service.  

The Green Decade/Newton, a non-profit environmental advocacy and education organization, believes that residents have a right to know where and when herbicides are sprayed, especially near homes, yards, gardens and children's play areas, as well as public parkways, roads, sidewalks, paths and trails.

Eight Newton residents recently met new Health Commissioner Dori Zalesnik and Senior Environmental Health Specialist John McNally to advocate for a policy of transparency and community notification of all the herbicide applications by all of the state agencies.

Although notification is no defense against exposure nor protection from herbicide drift and run off, it does alert us to the State's use of pesticides. Unfortunately, the State’s fact sheets use 1980s research to claim there is no herbicide run-off or drift.  Current research shows these claims to be untrue.

State regulations require that the applicators put a notice in at least one newspaper 48 hours before the herbicide application.  However we believe that it is not an adequate alert now that so many of us rely on digital communication.

During our meeting at the Health Department, we asked about using the city's 311 system to notify residents of spraying.  Dr. Zalesnik said she was unsure if this would be an appropriate use of the system. 

As an alternative, Marcia Cooper, Green Decade president, offered to collect emails from interested residents to provide to the Health Department.  Dr. Zalesnik could then simply send out emails when she gets a 21 day notice from the herbicide applicators of the estimated ten-day time frame for the spraying.  

If you would like the Green Decade to put your email on the notification list, send your name and email to info@greendecade.org

For more information on herbicides, cancer and the Precautionary Principle, see the following resources and more at Don't Spray 'em. Outsmart 'em.  http://safefrompesticides.blogspot.com

Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition article about the President's Cancer Panel: http://mbcc.org/breast-cancer-prevention/index.php/2011/05/is-anyone-protecting-us/

The Presidents Cancer Panel Report: Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now

The Precautionary Principle: http://www.silentspring.org/breast-cancer-and-environment/fact-sheets/precautionary-principle, http://www.silentspring.org/faqs/precautionary-principle, http://www.sehn.org/ppfaqs.html

Boston Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee (NPAC)  http://www.npacboston.org/) letter to the MBTA and Massachusetts Department of Transportation summarizing the links of the herbicides to cancer and other health hazards as well as soil and water contamination and asking for a MBTA NO SPRAY policy.  

*Massachusetts Rights of Way Vegetation Management Plans http://www.mass.gov/agr/pesticides/rightofway/index.htm  

-- Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed., is founder of www.healthy-kids.info and former co-chair of the Green Decade's Committee for Alternatives to Pesticides (http://greendecade.org/greencap.html).

Still waiting for Newton's herbicide information 3 1 2011

From Ellie Goldberg, ellie.goldberg@gmail.com, 617 965-9637
To Bob Rooney, rrooney@newtonma.gov
2/24/2011

Dear Bob,

I am writing to ask if you received my January 25 email asking you to follow up on your promise to find out where and when herbicides were used by state contractors in Newton in 2010.  (Still waiting for 2010 Newton Herbicide reports 1 25 2011.) 

As you may know, Mayor Warren is going to be introducing speakers at the Green Decade Environmental Series event about protecting water resources on Monday, 2/28.   Many of the residents concerned about herbicide use on Newton's Rights of Way will be there.  It would be very timely to have the details of the 2010 herbicide applications.  (See PUBLIC NOTIFICATION: What do the regs say?)

For your information, I just posted a letter from the Boston Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee to the MBTA and Massachusetts Department of Transportation asking for a MBTA NO SPRAY policy. It summarizes the links of the herbicides in the new Vegetation Management Plans to cancer and other health hazards as well as soil and water contamination.

Marcia Cooper, president Green Decade/Newton, was one of the signers along with other environmental health and environmental justice advocacy groups. 

I hope Mayor Warren will also be interested to learn about the history of herbicide use on Newton's Rights of Way and commit to joining the local and statewide advocacy efforts to protect public health and the environment.

Please call me if you have any new information or have questions.  I look forward to your update.

Yours truly,

Ellie Goldberg
Don't Spray 'Em, Outsmart 'Em

NPAC BOSTON: NO SPRAY POLICY ON THE MBTA?

neighborhood pesticide action committee
p.o. box 300752  ■  jamaica plain, ma 02130
www.npacboston.org

General Manager Richard A. Davey
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
10 Park Plaza, Suite 3910
Boston, MA 02116

Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Mullan
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
10 Park Plaza, Suite 3170, Boston, MA 02116

February 4, 2011

Dear General Manager Davey and Secretary Mullan:
    As part of its five year Vegetation Management Plan for 2011-2015, submitted August 2010 in compliance with 333 CMR 11.00, MassDOT intends to eradicate vegetation using herbicide treatments along MBTA’s Rapid Transit System rights-of-way.  MassDOT intends to apply six different herbicides along the railway tracks in Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Malden, Medford, Milton, Newton, Quincy, Revere and Somerville.
    The use of herbicides to control weed growth along rights-of-way is an unnecessary risk to public health and the environment.  Herbicides are toxic to living organisms, and their use has been linked to a wide range of health problems, including cancer, reproductive harm, and endocrine disruption.  Herbicides sprayed by MBTA can and do come into direct contact with residents - particularly in high minority, urban communities, where residents and parks are often in close proximity to the train tracks - and have the potential to migrate into waterways as well.
    Effective, non-chemical alternatives are readily available to control weeds along rights of way. We, the undersigned organizations, oppose herbicide use along rights-of-way by MassDOT, and ask that MassDOT commit to a no-spray policy for the following reasons:
    We urge you to stop spraying starting in 2011 for several reasons:

• Herbicides are harmful to living organisms.  Herbicides, like all pesticides, are designed to kill, and they can harm more than just their intended targets.   MBTA plans to use glyphosate (Accord, Round Up), imazapyr (Arsenal), metsulfuron methyl (Escort), triclopyr (Garlon 4), sulfometuron methyl (Oust), and fosamine ammonium (Krenite).  All of the herbicides intended for use have been linked to negative impacts on human health and/or the environment.

• Glyphosate is one of the most widely used pesticides in the country, and a study in 1999 by the American Cancer Society linked glyphosate exposure to non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.#
• Imazapyr moves readily in soil and can persist in soil for over a year.#
• Metsulforon methyl is classified as highly mobile and can travel through soil with water and enter groundwater.  It can also move with runoff and enter surface water.#
• In laboratory tests, triclopyr caused an increase in the incidence of breast cancer and reproductive problems.#
• Enough sulfometuron methyl to kill desirable vegetation can persist in soil for a year after application.#
• Fosamine ammonium has been linked to kidney damage.#

• Pesticide spraying is an environmental justice issue that deserves attention here, since urban communities are often in close proximity to railway tracks.  It has been well established that working class communities and communities of color in Massachusetts are disproportionately burdened with environmental toxins due to the unequal distribution of such hazards as toxics waste sites and commercial/industrial polluters.  Pesticides may be an additional contributor to the toxic burden and health burden in many of these communities. #
• Non-toxic options are available, including mechanical methods like weed-cutting machines and hand-cutting tools, to adequately control plant overgrowth along rights-of-ways.

    We recognize the challenges in cost-effectively managing a complex transportation system like the MBTA, and recognize that herbicide treatment can be less expensive in the short-term; however, the use of herbicides on rights-of-way in residential and urban communities is an unnecessary risk for public health and the environment.
    We request that MassDOT commit to a no-spray policy on the MBTA.  Please contact us at 617 522-0205.

     Respectfully,

Margaret Connors, Co-Founder, Neighborhood Pesticide Action Committee,

Taryn Hallweaver, Eastern Massachusetts Community Organizer, Toxics Action Center,  Sylvia Broude, Organizing Director, Toxics Action Center,
Lizzi Weyant, Staff Attorney, MASSPIRG,
Lee Matsuda, Action for Communities and the Environment (ACE),
Melissa Hoffer, Vice President and Director of Healthy Communities and Environmental Justice Conservation Law Foundation,
Rafael Mares, Staff Attorney, Conservation Law Foundation,
Marsha Cooper, Green Decade - Newton,
Erica Mattison and Rick Reibstein  EJ Task Force of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action  (JALSA),
Linda Hillyer, Chair of the Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) Project of Boston Self Help Center

 cc John Auerbach, Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner
    Jeffrey Sanchez, State Representative
    Sonia Chang Diaz, State Senator

Inner-City Pesticide Use as an Environmental Injustice
Learn how using pesticides in poor and minority communities is an environmental justice issue.
Click here to read the summary of the report.
Click here to read the full report.

Letter from Linda Walsh to MA Dept. of Agric Resources

Health and Human Services Department

Linda Walsh, Interim Commissioner

1294 Centre Street

Newton, MA 02459-1544

Telephone 617.796.1420   Fax 617.552.7063   TDD/TTY 617.796.1089

 

December 7, 2010   

Rights-of -Way Program

Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources

Pesticide Bureau

251 Causeway Street, Suite 500

Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2151

Dear Sir,

I am writing to comment on the yearly operational plan to manage vegetation along the railroad’s right of way in compliance with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Rights of Way Management Regulations 333 CMR 11.00. The public notification of herbicide applications is mandated by this regulation to our department by registered mail at least 21 days in advance of treatment.

This notification is extremely important to ensure adequate time for notice to be given to our citizens so that one may take the necessary precautions before, during and after the use of herbicides.   It has been our experience that the notification procedures have not been followed according to the mandated protocol.  This should be addressed with explicit language that would ensure the notification procedures are followed, up to and including canceling the spraying until such notification has occurred.

It is understood that the notification will occur in the local newspaper, which is acceptable, however I would further request that the Commissioner for the Department of Health and Human Services is notified via email and telephone (lwalsh@newtonma.gov, 617-796-1420) concurrent with the public notification to establish the necessary relationship with managers on ground.  This would enable the City to conduct further notifications and assist in the answering of further questions raised by Newton residents.  

This is a matter of great importance in maintaining the public health and safety of all residents. I appreciate your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Linda Walsh

Interim Commissioner of Health and Human Services

Green Decade Letter to Mayor Warren, November 2010

From Marcia Cooper, President, Green Decade/Newton

Dear Mayor Warren,

Green Decade appreciates the attention you have given to the importance of public safety in Newton. We have a concern on this topic, since becoming informed of the MBTA’s plan to spray hazardous herbicides along the tracks in Newton and Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Malden, Medford, Milton, Quincy, Revere and Somerville. Pesticides that are harmful to our health and the environment ought not to be used in our community.

There will be hearings November 15, 2010 regarding the MBTA’s Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) and a Yearly Operational Plan (YOP). Written comments will be accepted until December 9, 2010.

http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepadocs/2010/102510em/pn/5.pdf

Green Decade supports the use of alternative non-chemical weed control methods, such as planting low maintenance vegetation and mechanical cutting that are proven to be both effective and economical.

With public safety as a high priority, we ask that you submit written comments urging the MBTA to revise its plan to spray along the MBTA tracks in Newton.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Marcia Cooper

President, Green Decade/Newton