Pesticides are chemicals applied to kill or control insects, rats and mice, undesirable plants and weeds, or fungi (e.g., mold). Pesticides are often categorized by type of use (e.g., rodenticide, insecticide) or chemical class (e.g., organophosphate, pyrethroid).

Modern pesticides have been developed to have less persistence in the environment than earlier chlorine-based chemicals such as DDT. Pesticides may be applied by a commercial applicator or a non-professional who has purchased a product from a store.

This portal summarizes data about the quantity, types and locations of pesticides that are applied by state-certified pesticide applicators. Using survey data, the portal also reports data on peoples’ personal use of pesticides, and the frequency with which a pest control professional visits homes.

Pesticides and Health

Exposure to pesticides can occur from consuming foods or beverages that contain pesticide residues, from direct contact with the skin or eyes, or from breathing air in areas where pesticides are applied. Health effects from exposure to pesticides vary by chemical class. In general, short-term effects on humans from high levels of exposure include damage to the skin and eyes, difficulty breathing, neurological tremors or seizure and, in extreme cases, loss of consciousness and death. Current research is investigating whether chronic exposure to certain pesticides increases risk of some cancers, reproductive and developmental problems and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

About the Data and Indicators

Earlier years (1999-2002) of commercial pesticide reporting are more likely to contain inconsistencies based on differences in reporting quantities before or after dilution.

Under-reporting of commercial application probably occurs despite the legal reporting requirements.

Liquid and solid forms of the same chemicals are not combined, which prevents presentation of total pesticide applications in some cases.

Data on personal pesticide use and exterminator visits are measured using surveys that depend on the study participants’ accurate recollections and reporting.

Prevention

To reduce exposure to pesticides, NYC promotes the practice of integrated pest management. Individuals, property owners and managers, co-op and condominium boards should practice and purchase integrated pest management services that include:

• Inspection for and elimination of sources of food, water and shelter for insects and rodents in your household and building.
• Repair of cracks and holes to limit the movement of pests in and around your home or building.
• Use of less toxic products such as boric acid and desiccants, containerized baits, and gels.
• Though many consumer products are available, people should remember that they are poisons and be careful in choosing and using the safest and most effective products available.
• Always read and follow instructions on product labels.
• Avoid the use of sprays, bombs or foggers. Tempo, tres pasitos and cockroach chalk are illegal to sell to consumers, and should never be used.
• Keep rodenticides away from pets by using containerized bait. Call the Poison Control Center (212-POISONS) if you suspect an exposure.

Key Messages

Since the residential use of the organophosphate pesticides chlorpyrifos and diazinon were prohibited or phased out, beginning in the year 2000, professional applications of these products have declined significantly.

The professional use of “Best Practice” insecticides - those that are effective against pests, but have low toxicity and/or low potential for exposure to humans - have increased since the reporting of commercial pesticide use began in 1997. These include boric acid, desiccant products, and containerized or gel form insecticide baits.

There are significant neighborhood differences in the amounts and types of pesticides used in NYC. The majority of commercial herbicide application in NYC occurs in parks and the far outer boroughs where a greater percentage of residents receive lawn care and landscaping services.The most prominent use of fungicides in NYC is on fragile plant ecosystems such as decorative gardens, golf courses and sports fields.

There are many schemes of neighborhood boundaries (or geographies) available for different datasets. These include:

• Citywide
• Borough
• United Hospital Fund 42 (UHF42) and United Hospital Fund 34 (UHF34) neighborhoods
• Community Districts (CD), and, related, Community District Tabulation Areas (CDTA)
• Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMA)
• Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTA)

We try to make data available at as fine a geographic resolution as we can. Read more about different geographies at this data story.

It would be convenient if each dataset could be made available at the same geography, but this is not always possible. The neighborhood boundaries available depend on the specifics of the underlying dataset.

When we have multiple years of data, we show the data as trend charts.

Trends for individual neighborhoods tend to be very unstable (or "bouncy"), due to small counts for outcomes in individual neighborhoods. To show clearer trends, we usually aggregate up and show trend data by Borough.

Options on some indicators let you compare this indicator to other similar indicators.

We try to make data available as soon as we can.

Many datasets take a long time to reach us — a "lag" of several years, during which data are gathered from different entities to try to create a complete dataset; data are processed (cleaned, deduplicated, etc), and analyzed. It can take several years to prepare a dataset — so a dataset that is several years old is sometimes the most up-to-date information available. Still, this data continues to show us valuable trends and insights.

We also try to display datasets that have been available for many years. Some datasets (like those that are asked on surveys) are not asked every year of the survey, which means that we cannot provide annual data.

For some datasets, we have to aggregate time periods in order to break down data by borough or neighborhood.

Measures are the numeric ways that a dataset (or indicator) are expressed. Examples of different measures might be: number, percent or rate.

A number tells us how much of an outcome is in a certain area. But a rate (usually expressed as, for example, 40 per 100,000) tells us how much of an outcome there is, relative to the population of the area in question. This lets us compare neighborhoods of different sizes.

On this site, we try to show how environmental factors might be connected to health outcomes. One way we do this is with Correlates. We choose potentially-related datasets and display them on a scatterplot so you can see how these two datasets are correlated.

The Disparities view displays neighborhoods by poverty category to show underlying disparities in the data.

Read more about correlation here.