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State DEC investigating pesticides in Alley Pond

By Kathianne Boniello

The pesticide Anvil, which the city has been using to eradicate West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes, was discovered by the city Health Department in trace amounts in the more than 600-acre Alley Pond and another lake on Staten Island, said state DEC spokeswoman Jennifer Post.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restricts the use of Anvil and other pyrethroids around bodies of water, banning their direct application to open water or within 100 feet of lakes, streams, rivers or bays. Pyrethroids, which include Anvil, are relatively harmless to most mammals and birds, but toxic to fish and bees.

Post said the state DEC was investigating how the pesticide got into Alley Pond. She emphasized the chemical was found in