New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter II - Administrative Rules and Regulations › Subchapter B - State Aid And Funding › Part 44 - State Aid For Approved Vector Surveillance And Control Programs › Section 44.60 - Standards for review and approval

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) State aid applications for vector control
				  activities in the absence of a concurrent arthropod vector surveillance program
				  shall not be approved. However, there will be State aid for vector surveillance
				  programs in the absence of control activities where the surveillance activities
				  are directed to the detection of arthropod vector-borne diseases which may
				  constitute a public health threat.
(b) Plans for surveillance activities must be
				  described within the State aid application for vector surveillance (form DOH
				  0627-2377) and be approved in advance by the designee of the
				  commissioner.
(c) Localities
				  implementing nonchemical control measures should take steps that do not create
				  any risks to public health, that minimize any risks to the environment, that
				  can be accomplished in a cost effective manner, and produce long-term benefits
				  to the community by permanent vector control. Each control effort must be
				  approved by the designee of the commissioner.
(d) Request for State aid reimbursement for
				  pesticide spray application for vector control shall meet the following
				  requirements:
(1) Pesticide spray
				  applications conducted by the municipality must be in response to a public
				  health threat determined pursuant to section
				  44.50 
				  of this Part.
(2)
				  [Reserved]
(3) When pesticide
				  control measures are found necessary, ground application of pesticides shall be
				  the preferred method of control. No aerial pesticide application shall be
				  approved for State aid reimbursement except under conditions involving specific
				  arboviruses such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis or St. Louis Encephalitis and
				  the commissioner concludes, because of the inaccessibility of the target areas
				  by land, that aerial spraying is the only practicable way in which vector
				  control activities can be carried out. The department, in its review of each
				  application, will consider physiography, accessibility to the area where the
				  vector is located, rapidity of response required as determined by the
				  seriousness of the public health threat, and the likelihood that vectors in
				  nearby areas not subject to control measures will migrate from the area if not
				  subject to control.
(4) If a public
				  health threat warranting control measures is found to exist, control measures
				  must be limited to the immediate area where the vector population has been
				  determined to exist through vector surveillance and may include adjacent areas
				  considered at risk for imminent disease transmissions as documented through
				  vector surveillance activities.
(5)
				  The pesticides to be applied and the manner of application must be approved on
				  a timely basis in advance of use by the department and must be conditionally
				  approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation subject to a further
				  timely review and opportunity, pursuant to paragraph (8) of this subdivision,
				  for the Department of Environmental Conservation to request a modification of
				  an order of the Commissioner of Health declaring a public health threat. Such
				  approval will be based upon, among other things, an assessment of effectiveness
				  of the proposed pesticides applied to control the vector in the target area
				  including pesticide type and timing in the vector's life cycle, the potential
				  impact of the pesticide on people and the potential adverse ecosystem effects
				  of any proposed pesticide based on its toxicity, persistence and target
				  organism specificity, and potential for non-target impacts.
(6) Sources for public water supplies will
				  not be subjected to direct pesticide applications nor to the drift of such
				  activities. Surface water shall not be subjected to mosquito larvicide
				  application without a NYSDEC aquatic pesticide permit, when required, and any
				  such application shall comply with the label restrictions of the pesticide
				  used.
(7) Under conditions of a
				  current public health threat as declared by the commissioner, the applicant
				  shall announce to the general public, via the print and broadcast news media,
				  the use of vector control activities in the target area at least 24 hours in
				  advance of such use. The time period for advance notice may be shortened by the
				  commissioner or designee in the event that 24- hour advance notice is not
				  possible or that delay would endanger the public health. Vector control
				  activities taken under conditions supported only by historical evidence shall
				  be announced similarly to the general public at least 72 hours in advance of
				  such activities.
(8) The
				  Commissioner of Environmental Conservation shall have an opportunity to consult
				  with the Conmissioner of Health and request such modification of orders
				  declaring public health threats as are deemed necessary to implement the
				  purposes of the Environmental Conservation Law.