Bed-Stuy Faces 'Environmental Racism' In Pesticide Use: Report

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Bed-Stuy is one of several black and brown communities advocates and public officials fear face disproportionate exposure to a dangerous weed killer.

More than 20 Bed-Stuy locations are sprayed with possibly cancerous chemicals at the heart of the Black Institute's "Poison Parks" report on environmental racism, according to testimony given at a City Council hearing Wednesday.

Council members considered a proposed ban — backed by Bed-Stuy Council members Robert Cornegy and Alicia Ampry-Samuel — which would prohibit city agencies from using chemical pesticides on city properties.

Discussion on the bill largely centers on RoundUp, a herbicide known as glyphosate.

Allie Feldman Taylor, founder of Voters For Animal Rights, told council members 21 areas in her home neighborhood, Bed-Stuy, are treated with the chemicals, which she argued also endangered local animals.

"We know the hazards to human lives," Taylor told the council. "We actually have 21 locations in Bed-Stuy that have been sprayed with these dangerous chemicals."

Glyphosate was billed as safe for people to use for decades, but recently fears have grown over its potential link to non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Some studies have found a link but the Environmental Protection Agency, echoing some experts, listed it as "not likely" to cause cancer.

Ampry-Samuel did not immediately respond to Patch's request for an interview, but commented on the bill on Twitter.

"The fact that these dangerous products are still in use by parks is ridiculous," Ampry-Samuel tweeted. "As if this is not enough to make a parent’s blood boil, the recent report from The Black Institute ... details disproportionate use of these products in low and middle-income communities of color. Unacceptable."

"Poison Parks," not only outlines concerns over glyphosate, but also details data on how often the city used chemical pesticides in general.

City workers sprayed 28,000 acres of parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, among many other places, at least 237,812 times, according to the study.

The data also showed predominantly black areas in Harlem were sprayed more often than other places in Manhattan. It also showed workers sprayed a 50 percent glyphosate solution — a concentration well beyond the typical 0.3 to 0.5 percent — in Idlewild Park in Queens, another predominantly black area.

"A chemical that disproportionately impacts people of color is an act of environmental racism," the report states. "When Black and Brown families that are economically disadvantaged must bear the burden of toxic exposure at a higher rate than white families, there is no argument that can change the racist nature of the subject."