Spraying on Allerton Road, Newton, Nov 4 2006

Nov. 4, 2006                                                       
Dear Green Decade Board,

On November 2, 2006, an Allerton Road resident whose yard runs up to the MBTA fence line called to to tell us about the recent clear cutting and herbicide application of the MBTA tracks and slopes.  It was obvious from the devastation left behind on the right-of-way slopes in Newton Highlands and near Crystal Lake and beyond, that the vegetation control is not done in a scientific, horticultural, or  public health-sensitive manner.

Apparently, areas previously protected from herbicide application no longer had protected status and advance notification to the public was limited to a single notice in the Boston Globe four months prior to the date of the herbicide spraying. The city of Newton was notified of weakened protections for waterways and wetlands in a single letter of 2000 sent to the Conservation Commissioner of Newton.

The resident, whose yard includes a compost pile and organic garden, was not notified of the spraying although, in the early 1990s, the Health Department had promised to alert her when the MBTA was going to use herbicides and her name was still on record.   

GreenCAP members are sending a letter to our legislators to request that the state initiate a public review of the MBTA vegetation management program, the quality of training and supervision of its staff and contractors, and its budget (i.e. if our tax dollars are being used properly.)  The investigation should include a review of the recent herbicide application to see if it violated the approved state vegetation management plan, and/or state laws (Rivers Protection Act, Wetland Protect Action, Citizen Right to Know, Children's and Family's Protection Act, etc.) as well as state and local safety, public health or nuisance ordinances that are supposed to protect residents from hazards to the public health and welfare, safety, and the quality of life or that causes the disruption of the peace, tranquility or safety of the immediate residential neighborhood.

She spent hours talking to MBTA officials, TEC Associates (who authored the MBTA Vegetation Management Plan), and Newton officials David Naparstek, David Cohen, and Martha Horn (without any referral by them to GreenCAP people who have been concerned about MBTA pesticide use and have met with Mayor Cohen and others in the past in repeated attempts to influence MBTA practices.)

Links for Parents

Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow
http://www.healthytomorrow.org

Beyond Pesticides

http://www.beyondpesticides.org

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

http://www.commercialexploitation.org

Center for Children's Health and the Environment

http://www.childenvironment.org

Center For Health, Environment & Justice

http://www.chej.org

Children´s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC)

http://www.checnet.org

Clean Water Action
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/ma/

Coalition Organized for Health Education in Schools (COHES)
http://www.cohes.org

Conservation and Recreation Campaign

http://www.conservationandrecreationcampaign.org

Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE)

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html

Federation for Children with Special Needs
http://www.fcsn.org

Forests and Parks Partnership

http://www.forestsandparks.org

Go Green Initiative

http:// www.gogreeninitiative.org

Healthy School Environments

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov/schools/

Healthy School Environments Resources

http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm

Integrated Pest Management in Schools

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/

Healthy Schools Network

http://www.healthyschools.org

Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance

http://www.ma-hperd.org/

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health
http://www.masscosh.org

Massachusetts Department of Education

http://www.doe.mass.edu/

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

http://www.mass.gov/dph/

Massachusetts Public Health Association

http://www.mphaweb.org

Massachusetts Healthy Schools Network
http://www.mphaweb.org/pol_schools.html

Massachusetts League of Women Voters

http://www.lwvma.org

Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association

http://www.masspta.org

Massachusetts School Integrated Pest Management

http://www.massnrc.org/ipm/

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education

http://www.ncpie.org/

New American Dream

http://www.newdream.org

http://www.newdream.org/cleanschools/

Safe Routes to School
http://www.saferoutestoschool.org/

Special Needs Advocacy Network (SPAN)

http://www.spanmass.org/

SPEDwatch (Nonprofit working on behalf of students with special needs)

http://www.spedwatch.org

Stand for Children

http://www.stand.org/

Toxics Action Center

http://www.toxicsaction.org

Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)

http://www.turi.org

Watch Your Mouth (Oral Health Campaign)
http://watchyourmouth.org/

DÉJÀ VU: MBTA APPLIES HERBICIDES TO GREEN LINE IN JULY 6 4 2001

For Immediate Release June 4, 2001

by Ellie Goldberg,

(h) 617 965-9637  erg_hk@juno.com

Co Chair, GreenCAP, the Committee for Alternatives to Pesticides

Green Decade Coalition/Newton, www.greendecade.org   617/ 965-1995

The MBTA has given notice that the Green Line tracks will be sprayed with weed killers sometime between July 23 and August 3.  Roundup-Pro will be sprayed on the main tracks and Roundup-Pro and Oust will be used in the yards.  The Bay Colony Rail Road will be spraying Roundup-Pro on the same dates.

GreenCAP is disappointed to learn about the MBTA and the Bay Colony RR plans.  Unfortunately, municipalities have no legal power to stop it.

Back in July 1995, GreenCAP received over 50 calls in response to the “public alert” that GreenCAP mailed to residents, day care centers, nursing homes and other property owners near the tracks.  The Newton Board of Aldermen passed a resolution requesting a public meeting. The scheduled spray was postponed. There was a large public meeting at the Newton Free Library with representatives of the MBTA, city officials and state representatives.

Both the public and city and state officials strongly objected to the MBTA’s pesticide use.  Citizens questioned the need for spraying. They expressed serious concerns about the hazards of the weed killers, Roundup and Oust, about the potential for pesticide drift and run off to surrounding properties, about the MBTA's lack of communication, and about the way the spraying would be conducted.

A task force including the Newton Health Department and MBTA officials was formed to develop alternative ecologically safe approaches to weed control but did not meet.

In 1999, in response to the MA Turnpike Authority’s and Conrail’s plan to use herbicides on rights-of-way inNewton, Mayor David B. Cohen wrote letters expressing deep concern that the use of herbicides presented an unacceptable risk to residents.  He pointed out that Newton was committed to alternatives such as hardy ground covers, low maintenance vegetation, mechanical weed control and other low impact non-chemical techniques.  

Mayor Cohen, a sponsor of the Rivers and Wetland Protection Acts as a state legislator, wrote,  “I am very concerned about the immediate exposure of herbicide drift to Newton residents, as well as the runoff into water supplies, wells, and wetlands. Such lands run close to our homes, yards, gardens, wells and waterways and they should be protected.”

Today, our objections are stronger than ever.  All pesticides are poison.  Pesticides can be inhaled, absorbed through the skin or swallowed in treated areas as well as down wind and down stream.  And they are unnecessary as alternative non-toxic weed control approaches are known to be both effective and economical.

GreenCAP urges anyone who objects to the pesticide spraying to let local and state public officials know. (Addresses below.)

Citizens who want to learn more about the hazards of  RoundUp and other weed killers should call 617 965-1995 and leave a message for GreenCAP. (Ask for Glyphosate (RoundUp) Herbicide Fact Sheet from the  Journal of Pesticide Reform. The full text is available as a PDF file. See the brief summary below.)

ADVISORY:  According to the US EPA, everyone should minimize exposure to pesticides, especially children, the elderly, pregnant women and individuals with health problems.

Residents who live near the Green Line or whose neighbors use pesticides for tree or lawn care should follow these steps:

  *       Keep windows closed.

  *       Keep pets, toys and laundry indoors.

  *       Cover vegetable gardens.

  *       Cover or remove lawn furniture, play equipment, barbecue grills, etc.

  *       Keep children and pets away from treatment areas.

  *       Remove your shoes upon entering your home to avoid tracking residue inside.

  ****************************

  Mayor David B. Cohen

  Newton CIty Hall

  1000 Commonwealth Avenue

  Newton, Massachusetts 02459

  (617) 552-7000

State Officials

  Rights-of-Way Program, Michael McClean

  Pesticide Bureau

  Massachusetts Deaprtment of Food & Agriculture

  251 Causeway Street, Suite 500

  Boston, MA 02114

  (617) 626-1780 Michael.McClean@state.ma.us.

  Fax (617) 626-1850

  http://www.massdfa.org/pesticides/rightofway/index.htm

  STATE SENATOR

  CYNTHIA STONE CREEM

  Room 416-B

  State House

  Boston, MA 02133

  Telephone: (617) 722-1639

  CCreem@senate.state.ma.us

  STATE REPRESENTATIVE

  RACHEL KAPRIELIAN

  Room 33

  State House

  Boston, MA 02133

  Telephone: (617) 722-2220

  Rep.RachelKaprielian@hou.state.ma.us

  STATE REPRESENTATIVE

  RUTH B. BALSER

  Room 134

  State House

  Boston, MA 02133

  Telephone: (617) 722-2400

  Rep.RuthBalser@hou.state.ma.us

  STATE REPRESENTATIVE

  PETER J. KOUTOUJIAN

  Room 448

  State House

  Boston, MA 02133

  Telephone: (617) 722-2582

  Fax: (617) 722-2879

  Rep.PeterKoutoujian@hou.state.ma.us

  STATE REPRESENTATIVE

  KAY KHAN

  Room 22

  State House

  Boston, MA 02133

  Telephone: (617) 722-2140

GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP)

Source:

NORTHWEST COALITION FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES/NCAP, P. O. B O X 1 3 9 3, E U G E N E, O R E G O N  JOURNAL OF PESTICIDE REFORM/ FALL 1998, VOL.18, NO. 3, 

GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP) UPDATED 11/98  BY CAROLINE COX

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide widely used to kill unwanted plants both in agriculture and in nonagricultural landscapes.  Estimated use in the U.S. is between 38 and 48 million pounds per year.  Most  glyphosate-containing products are either made or used with a surfactant, chemicals that help glyphosate to penetrate plant cells.

Glyphosate-containing products are acutely toxic to animals, including humans. Symptoms include eye and skin irritation, headache, nausea, numbness, elevated blood pressure, and heart palpitations. The surfactant used in a common glyphosate product (Roundup) is more acutely toxic than glyphosate itself; the combination of the two is yet more toxic.

Given the marketing of glyphosate herbicides as benign, it is striking that laboratory studies have found diverse effects in all standard categories of laboratory toxicology testing. These include medium-term toxicity (salivary gland lesions), long-term toxicity (inflamed stomach linings), genetic damage (in human blood cells), effects on reproduction (reduced sperm counts in rats; increased frequency of abnormal sperm in rabbits), and carcinogenicity (increased frequency of liver tumors in male rats and thyroid cancer in female rats).

In studies of people (mostly farmers) exposed to glyphosate herbicides, exposure is associated with an increased risk of miscarriages, premature birth, and the cancer non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Glyphosate has been called "extremely persistent" by the U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency, and half lives of over 100 days have been measured in field tests in Iowa and New York.  Glyphosate has been found in streams following agricultural, urban, and forestry applications.

Glyphosate treatment has reduced populations of beneficial insects, birds, and small mammals by destroying vegetation on which they depend for food and shelter.

In laboratory tests, glyphosate increased plants' susceptibility to disease and reduced the growth of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Highway Department Halts Herbicide Use, Conrail Sprays March/April 1999

For the Green News, March/April 1999

Highway Department Halts Herbicide Use, Conrail Sprays

Boston Globe3/13/9 "In response to concerns raised by citizens and environmental groups, Matthew Amorello, the new commissioner of the Massachsuetts Highway Deparatment, has announced that the depatnment will not be sprayuing herbicides in 1999.  Instead, Amorello said the department will weed-wack and now some roadside areas."

The Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM), several watershed associations, and the Hilltown Anti-Herbicide Coalition in Ashfield, were successful in convincing the Highway Department to stop using herbicides, there is more work to be done. Conrail has filed its yearly plan to spray trackside vegetation with herbicides during the periods June 7 - 18 and August 9 - 20.  The chemical products used include Roundup-Pro, Arsenal, Karmex, Oust, Chopper RTU. This includes sections of track in designated "sensitive areas" due to their proximity to wetlands or water sources.

GreenCAP is concerned about the problem of herbicide drift and runoff into water supplies, wells, and wetlands. None of these products have been evaluated for the cumulative or synergistic effects when used together. According to ELM, Oust is one of a new generation of herbicides called sulfonylureas that are 100 times more toxic to weeds than their predecessors. These chemicals have been shown to cause serious crop plant damage when they drift away from target areas.   Glyphosate has been measured in runoff four months afters its application.  Glyphosate (Roundup) increases non-target plants' susceptibility to disease and reduces the growth of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It has reduced populations of beneficial insects, birds, and small mammals by destorying vegetation on which they depend for food and shelter. (Journal of Pesticide Reform, Fall, 1998: Research review showing the hazards of glyphosate products. 15 pages, 183 citations.)

The highway department has clearly seen the light and we would like to encourage Conrail to do the same. For more information, call GreenCAP, 617/965-1995 or Ellie Goldberg, Co chair, 617/965-9637.