Claim Alley Pond Park Tainted by Anvil

Environmentalists at Alley Pond Park in Douglaston painted a bleak picture out of Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring" last week, blaming pesticides for the lack of songbirds and butterflies on the 635-acre preserve.
Aline Euler, director of the Alley Pond Environmental Center, said that the pesticide Anvil, used to combat the West Nile Virus, is responsible for the poisoning of the habitat.
"I’m frightened about the long-term effect of repeating spraying here," she said.
Euler said birds could ingest Anvil through drinking water or from ingesting insects that carry residue. She also expressed concern about Alley Pond’s turtles, which absorb water through their skin, and other marine life.
A City Health Department official, Dr. James Miller, said that the Department did not observe any immediate impact on wildlife.
"We did not see any evidence of dead fish in bodies of water where pesticide levels were detected," he said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that pyrethroids like Anvil are low in toxicity to mammals and "practically non-toxic to fish and bees." The substance is not supposed to be applied to open water or within 100 feet of lakes, streams, rivers or bays.