| As attorney general, Eliot Spitzer supported proposed legislation that would have banned toxic herbicides from being used to destroy lawn weeds. Spitzer also initiated several lawsuits to deal with misleading advertising by lawn care companies, and with overuse of lawn chemicals at public housing projects. He urged schools to stop using pesticides, particularly herbicides, on lawns and athletic fields. Spitzer recognized these chemicals can cause cancer, Parkinson's disease and respiratory ailments for humans, poison wildlife, and pollute our air and our drinking water.
New York state Assemblyman Alexander Grannis co-sponsored the lawn chemical ban bill. Because the state Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner during the Pataki administration was reluctant to address these issues, Grannis also co-sponsored a bill that would give municipalities some of the commissioner's regulatory authority.
Although these bills died in committee last year, I hoped Spitzer's election as governor, and Spitzer's appointment of Grannis as DEC commissioner, would mean the state would finally take action.
Reintroduced this year, A.6045/S.3206 would prohibit use of toxic chemicals to control lawn weeds. At least 60 Canadian municipalities or provinces have already enacted such laws.
Two months ago, I urged Spitzer and Grannis to continue supporting this measure. I also requested Grannis to use his authority under current law to ban toxic lawn chemicals, and I requested Spitzer to issue an executive order prohibiting lawn pesticides and synthetic fertilizers from use by state agencies, parks, colleges and highway departments.
To date, no reply from the governor's office. The letter I received from the DEC's director of pesticides management makes no commitment to support A.6045/S.3206, or to do anything new to deal with these issues.
Continued environmental irresponsibility will eventually harm all of us.
JOEL FREEDMAN Canandaigua
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