Since West Nile virus first appeared in the city in 1999, the Health Department has done its best to protect the city from this disease (“Risking the Public Health,” Jeff Stier, PostOpinion, Sept. 4).
Stier wrongly assumes that spraying Anvil, a chemical pesticide, is the only defense the city uses against West Nile virus. The Health Department also works to reduce standing water to deny mosquitoes places to breed and repeatedly applies non-chemical larvicide to wetlands, marshes, waterways and catch basins to kill mosquito larvae before they grow into adults.
While no actions will eliminate mosquitoes or this virus, this combination of actions greatly reduces West Nile activity safely. Spraying chemical pesticides too early, too extensively or too often can lead to chemical resistance among mosquitoes and put both New Yorkers and our environment at unnecessary risk.
Thomas Farley, Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City
Outside the box
“Welfare Cops Expose Poor-ly Done Scams,” (Sept. 10) was great, because it showed how city investigators not only used old tactics of questioning to get results, they used social networking sites, like Facebook.
It’s good to see that investigators aren’t stuck in the past but change with the times. The government has not completely forgotten about the public by saving taxpayers almost a billion dollars.
There will always be people who think they can beat the system and who will try new tricks, but I’m guessing this will stop them in their tracks.
Alisia Tseytina, Brooklyn
Teacher shift
Nicole Gelinas writes that it is not clear that we need new teachers (“O’s Stimulus & The Rotten Jobs News,” PostOpinion, Sept. 10).
We don’t need more teachers, but new ones are a different matter.
Nothing could boost the sagging academic performance of our schools better than to replace the current crop of teachers holding fluff education degrees with people who are actually educated in the subjects they will be teaching.
Peter Skurkiss, Stow, Ohio
One-note prez
President Obama’s foreign policy is more than a bad joke without a punchline — it is dangerous (“Beyond bin Laden,” Editorial, PostOpinion Sept. 10).
He has thrown allies like Israel, Britain and Poland under the bus in favor of enemies like Russia and Iran.
Additionally, Obama ignored opportunities created by the Arab Spring, a movement inspired by the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush, and his handling of Saddam Hussein and democracy in Iraq.
The fact that Obama has squandered this opportunity by not even offering words of encouragement to uprisings in Iran, Syria and other countries only demonstrates further that it is time for our likable but incompetent president to seek other employment.
Paul J. Dwyer, Nesconset
Regarding Obama’s incessant bragging about Osama bin Laden’s killing — did we ever hear presidents who were actually military heroes, like Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and George H. W. Bush, boast about their exploits?
There is a Talmudic saying: “A single coin in an empty jar makes a lot of noise.”
Joe Boms, Brooklyn