SUFFOLK CLOSEUP
By Karl Grossman
Gas-fired leaf blowers—a terrible health and environmental threat.
First, about the noise racket caused by gas-fired leaf blowers. Regarding “noise pollution, gasoline-powered leaf blowers create noise levels of 90-100 decibels at close range and exceed the EPA’s recommended maximum noise level even at 50 feet. Excess noise produces an increase in blood pressure, adrenaline, heart rate and stress; it also damages hearing,” notes the Asthma Coalition of Long Island, headquartered in Hauppauge.
“Leaf blowers are routinely used less than 50 feet from unconsenting pedestrians and neighboring homes that may be occupied by homeworkers, retirees, day sleepers, children, the disabled,” states a fact sheet on “leaf blower noise” from the East Hampton-based organization “Ban The Blowers.”
The “Ban The Blowers” piece—titled “I Can’t Hear You”—goes on that “the World Health Organization recommends general daytime outdoor noise levels of 55 dBA [decibels] or less…Don’t be fooled by comparison of 65 decibels from a leaf blower to the volume of normal conversation that you had not invited and could not control….Acoustic experts say blower noise is especially irritating because of its particular pitch, the changing amplitude, and the lack of control of the hearer.”
As Kenneth Maue has written in an article in the Right to Quiet newsletter: “When harsh noise hits, instead of reaching out to greet the world with open ears, we shrink back into shells, or try to; in truth the ears can’t shut, nor like the eyes turn away. Noise controls space like an occupying army, travels through walls, enters houses, molests bodies, violates privacy, stops thought, batters each of us into isolation.”
Ever since they were introduced in the early 1970s, gas-fired leaf blowers have been causing intense noise. They have been zealously defended by many in the landscaping industry—in denial that far quieter, far less polluting lithium-powered electric leaf blowers are now available. As claimed a spokesperson for the Nassau Suffolk Landscape Gardeners Association, which is said by Newsday to be “representing 1,600 industry professionals,” they are needed “to effectively do jobs to customer satisfaction.”
As to health and environmental damage gas-fired leaf blowers cause, a leading regional environmental group is Citizens Campaign for the Environment, with 80,000 members and offices in Farmingdale on Long Island as well as in upstate New York and Connecticut. It explains: “While blowing leaves, gas leaf blowers also pick up dust and debris, potentially releasing significant particulate matter into the air. This particulate matter can include mold, pollen, feces, pesticides, and heavy metals which exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems and cause long-term damage to the heart and lungs. In fact, particulate matter is the second highest cause of lung cancer after smoking.”
The organization goes on: “Gas leaf blowers are inefficient machines, emitting greenhouse gases including carbon and nitrogen oxide….These emissions also contain Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons—PAHs—and Benzene, two known human carcinogens. In Suffolk County, which has been given an ‘F’ for air quality by the American Lung Association for the last 14 years, there is no reason to continue to allow unregulated gas leaf blowers to release contaminants and increase air pollution.”
Or as Grasroots Environmental Education headquartered in Great Neck, a prominent group advancing ecological education on Long Island, states: ”Along with toxic volatile chemicals, gas leaf blowers release a particularly high level of particulate matter that is easily inhaled by people in the immediate and surrounding areas. Particulate matter is especially harmful for children, as their lung passages are narrow and this dangerous substance is easily trapped in deep lung tissue…Our organization has done extensive research on the ability of pesticides to adhere to particular type of soil. Leaf blowers create a lot of dust—especially when it is dry—and send these soil particulates into the air and into people’s homes through screens and windows…This translocation of lawn pesticides into people’s homes is another public health issue associated with the widespread use of blowers.”
Or as the Huntington Breast Cancer Coalition, in its opposition to gas-fired leaf blowers, declares: “We believe it is of utmost importance to Prioritize Prevention by identifying and mitigating the environmental causes of breast cancer and other life-long illnesses.” Gas-fired leaf blowers produce “endocrine disruptors and can be linked to asthma, cancer and other life-long illnesses.”
It has been an uphill fight to restrict gas-fired leaf blowers on Long Island—although nationally they are now banned in Israel and their use limited in 400 communities across the United States.
What might be done in Suffolk County or on the New York State level? That next week.
Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.