Like prophets crying in the wilderness, metropolitan breast cancer activists, called a press conference on July 31 at the Town of North Hempstead to implore leaders and news media to alert the general public that wide-spread aerial spraying poses more health risks than protection from the small number of mosquitoes bearing the West Nile virus. Patti Wood, ecology commissioner for the Town of North Hempstead, praised Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta, and Commissioner of Health, Dr. Gaffney, for their "courage in resisting the incredible pressure" that has been exerted on them by New York City's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to engage in massive spraying programs.

Anvil and Scourge, two pesticides being sprayed in the metropolitan area, are from a class of pesticides known as synthetic pyrethroids. Laura Weinberg, environmental advisor for the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, discussed a recent study conducted at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, which reported findings that suggest that pyrethroids are endocrine disruptors, which may increase cancer cell growth. Especially vulnerable to risks of exposure to this class of pesticides are individuals with breast and prostate cancers.

Ms. Weinberg noted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will only begin to take a look at the endocrine disruptor properties of the pyrethroids in the year 2002. She said, "For at least the next two years, human subjects in the tri-state area will be a part of an uncontrolled experiment." She urged that the Mt. Sinai study be immediately replicated.

Research in the area of endocrine disruptors has proliferated in the last decade. An international group of scientists and physicians¬including U.S. government scientists- attending a conference at Erice, Italy issued a consensus statement May 30, 1996, expressing great concern about the effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals on the brain and central nervous system. It stated, "A trivial amount of governmental resources is devoted to monitoring environmental chemicals and health effects. The public is unaware of this and believes that they are adequately protected. The message that endocrine disruptors are present in the environment and have the potential to affect many people over a lifespan has not effectively reached the general public, the scientific community, regulators, or policy makers. Although this message is difficult to reduce to simple statements without over- or understating the problem, the potential risks to human health are so widespread and far-reaching that any policy based on continued ignorance of the facts would be unconscionable."

The frustration of the many activists present from all over the metro area was palpable. Laura Kay from Port Washington has lost her mother, grandmother, and aunt to breast cancer and she takes many precautions to protect her family by shopping for organic foods and avoiding pesticide usage on her property, but she lost control over her home and grounds last summer when aerial spraying took place. She wonders if the increased upper respiratory ailments and persistent coughs her family endured last winter could be linked to the spraying.

Karen Miller from the Huntington Action Coalition emphasized that there are "reasonable alternatives to spraying." She urged the continuation of preventive tactics such as controlling breeding sites, judicious use of larvaecides, mosquito magnets (a device that attracts and captures mosquitoes by emitting carbon dioxide), larvae-eating fish, and targeted truck spraying as "a last resort" within half a mile of detected, infected mosquitoes.

Kathie Davis, president of the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition said, "We don't know the long-term effects of all this indiscriminate spraying on the general population, but we feel strongly that those who have had breast cancer are at high risk from exposure to these chemicals."

There is some good news. The recent cooler temperatures, while not conducive to summertime activities, mean that the breeding cycle of mosquitoes is slower. Homeowners should continue to empty containers of standing water and exercise reasonable precautions.

And researchers from the University of California- Irvine announced last week that a drug now used to fight other viral diseases may also be effective against the West Nile virus. Dr. Ian Lipkin and his team from UCI found that high doses of ribavirin resulted in much reduced levels of the genetic material of the West Nile virus in infected cells and reduced damage due to West Nile virus infection. Dr. Lipkin said, "To our knowledge this is the first drug to have specific activity against the West Nile virus." While these studies have not been tested on live subjects, the results at the cellular level are deemed "encouraging."