Pesticide detection does not equal health risk or toxicity.
The East Hampton Star reports,
With three million Long Islanders dependent on a single underground aquifer for drinking water, and the annual use of millions of pounds of pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, local environmental groups have asked the State Department of Environmental Conservation to immediately ban the three most frequently found chemicals, atrazine, metalaxyl, and imidacloprid, from use on the Island…
The D.E.C.’s own Long Island Pesticide Use Management Plan, issued in December, shows that imidacloprid was detected 782 times at 182 locations on Long Island, metalaxyl 1,292 times at 727 locations, and atrazine 126 times at 88 locations. Suffolk County, with the largest agricultural sales in New York, and in particular the East End, are of greatest concern.
