Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 12, March 20, 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.