In early 2019 the State Senate and Assembly of New York passed a bill that would ban the aerial application of chlorpyrifos in the State of New York. The bill was sent to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for him to either sign into law or veto. If it had been signed, the use of chlorpyrifos would be phased out aerially by Dec. 1, 2021. In response to this situation, NAAA sent a letter to Governor Cuomo explaining why it is imperative the governor vetoes the bill.

In December of 2019, Governor Cuomo vetoed the bill while at the same time ordering the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to immediately start the regulatory process to revoke its aerial and other uses. In his veto message Governor Cuomo said the bill “bypasses the rigorous process available to challenge an approved product and substitutes the legislature’s judgement for the expertise of chemists, health experts and other subject matter experts in the field.” The governor’s directive to DEC orders the agency to “take immediate action to ban aerial use of chlorpyrifos. DEC will also have regulations in place to ban chlorpyrifos for all uses, except spraying apple tree trunks, by December 2020.”

NAAA sent a letter, very similar to the one sent earlier to Governor Cuomo, to Basil Seggos, the Commissioner of the DEC. The letter explains, using fact-based, scientific reasoning, as to why chlorpyrifos is an important insecticide for many crops, and aerial application provides the most accurate and safe way to apply it, as well as all other pesticides. The timeframe under which the DEC will move to ban the use of chlorpyrifos is uncertain, but a public comment period is expected and NAAA will submit scientific data to prove the efficacy and safety of aerial applications of chlorpyrifos.