Thiele, who will join Schneiderman in East Hampton tomorrow for a formal announcement of their plans, said he is drafting a bill and seeking a Senate sponsor. It might be limitations or it might be an outright ban on certain chemical pesticides. We do sit on top of a sole-source aquifer. We are surrounded by water. He said separate studies have shown pesticide contamination and the number of breast cancer cases increasing on the South Fork.
Pesticides are a suspected carcinogen .
Schneiderman said some chemicals might still have to be used for killing ticks that carry Lyme disease. People like their green lawns but a green lawn should not come at the expense of public health and safety. I'd rather see dandelions than leukemia. There are alternatives. Thiele noted that a bill to allow local governments statewide to enact more stringent pesticide regulations than the state has passed the Assembly in the past few years, but it has not been approved by the Senate because of opposition from agricultural interests upstate.