Shelter Island Reporter Prose and Comments Let’s Not Forget: The Issue Is Tick-Borne Diseases By Patricia Shillingburg     Let’s remember why we are having this conversation about the 4-Poster and the insecticide permethrin. It’s not about a tiny amount of permethrin getting into deer meat (which scientists tell us will not happen); it’s not about permethrin getting into our bays (if a deer swam with permethrin on its neck, the amount would be so miniscule as to have no effect); and it’s not about chronic wasting disease (which is the DEC’s excuse). It is about very nasty diseases carried by ticks, which are infecting many people on our Island.     When I was a little girl summering on Shelter Island in the 1950s, we had ticks. My job every night was to inspect our family’s dogs for ticks. I would remove then with tweezers and put them into a jar of kerosene. These were ticks you could see, and after I had finished with the dogs, my mother would check me and send me off to the shower. I was never sick from a tick bite.     In the past three years, my husband has been made very ill twice with diseases caused by ticks. And, these ticks are so small that you really cannot see them. In the past few years, the types of ticks on the Island have changed and the damage they can do to a human being has become very dangerous.     One of my dearest friends who hardly has time to work in her garden spent a very scary few weeks before the doctors realized that she had two tick-borne diseases at the same time, and that only one disease could be treated at a time because the drugs used are so powerful they cannot be used simultaneously. One of the drugs is not recommended for children, and until a child nears death, it cannot be prescribed. And that happened last summer.     Everyone on this Island is someone or knows someone who has suffered from a tick-borne disease in the past ten years. Tick-borne diseases are a very serious public health problem.     After nearly two years of study, the Deer and Tick Committee has concluded that there is only one way to deal with tick-borne diseases at this time and that is killing the ticks, at the very end of their life cycle, on the last host they feed on before they lay their eggs. That host is the white tail deer, of which we have abundance on the Island. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been studying the problem of ticks for many years, and its scientists have come up with the 4-Poster solution, which is permitted in every one of the lower 48 states except for New York.  It will reduce ticks in a community by 98% in three years.  Fewer ticks mean a lower incidence of disease. If used properly on Shelter Island, the 4-Poster system could almost eliminate tick borne diseases from the lone star and the deer tick within 3-4 years.     The genius of the 4-Poster is that it dabs just a little bit of a 10% solution of permethrin on the head and neck of a deer as they feed on a few kernels of corn several times a day. The system is not feeding deer, but it is enticing them to enjoy just a little bit of “candy” each time they nibble.     The Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) claims that deer will congregate and thus spread disease. Deer, we know, already congregate and groom each other, but they do not move much beyond their own territory. But, the DEC remains more afraid of spreading chronic wasting disease in deer than it is in protecting human beings from devastating tick-borne diseases. Since the only case of chronic wasting disease to have been diagnosed in New York State is many hundred of miles away in the north-west corner of the state, and we are a small Island far, far away with only a few deer each year swimming from the Island, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to the Deer and Tick Committee that the DEC will not allow the Island to use the 4-Poster here. So far they have said “absolutely not.” The DEC also says that permethrin is not labeled for deer, and although our scientists tell us otherwise, the DEC says “no” to permethrin on deer to kill ticks. It seems the DEC is more concerned with the meat of the deer than the health of ALL of the people on Shelter Island.     So to me, the only way to get the DEC to see the light -- that human health on Shelter Island is more important than the worry about the health of deer in the northwest corner of the state – is to reach out to our advocates in Albany. But, before Assemblymen Marc Alessi and Fred Thiele and Senator Ken LaValle will stick their political necks out for us, they need to hear from our Town Board and each of us. There has to be a ground swell reaction in this community demanding the 4-Poster system in order to advance this cause.     And, there’s the rub. A few hunters have told key Town officials that they are fearful that the permethrin on the fur of the deer will get into the meat and contaminate it. The U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists have assured us that this is not the case: Cattle we eat are bathed in it before they are slaughtered, and fleas and ticks are kept off milking cows by permethrin baths. Hunters themselves wear clothing that has been treated with permethrin to protect them from ticks. Don’t they worry about permethrin getting on their skin and into their bodies? Well, if we can successfully argue against the fear of permethrin in the meat of deer, then we are told to worry about permethrin getting into our bays. To that argument, I say that a dab on the head and neck of a deer puts a whole lot less permethrin in the bays than spraying property with the stuff, which is done by at least 300 households monthly during the tick season on the Island who want to protect their family members and property from ticks. Permethrin has a half-life of 28 days, so property owners have to spray frequently for it to be effective. (The half-life varies according to where it is: in a bottle, on foliage, or on a deer’s neck, I understand.) The flip side of a half-life of 28 days is that even if it got into the deer’s meat, its power almost disappears within a very short time. And, it has already been tested and scientifically proven that permethrin does not get into the meat of cattle and goats. Goats, by the way, are cousins physically of deer.     Our Town officials have told the Deer and Tick Committee that until there is scientific proof that permethrin does not get into deer meat, they will not support the use of the 4-Poster.     That’s where we stand today.  We are going to jeopardize public health because of a few hunters’ fears that something might happen that the scientists who understand such things say will not happen.     I wonder if our Town officials will change their tune if the economy starts to go down the tubes. For the last half century, the Island has become more and more dependent on second-home owners -- they now own 70% of houses – and if they decide that our Island is not a healthy place to bring their children, they might consider leaving. Property values would plummet, jobs would disappear, and property taxes collected to support our school and other services would dry up.     I have heard it said several times in the past few months, that there are always unintended consequences, so it is better to take no action. To that I say there are also unintended consequences from no action. They could be worse.     I have to admit that the Town has authorized an interesting action: a very colorful and informative brochure that the Deer and Tick Committee has created called “Dealing with Ticks.” It describes the three kinds of ticks we have on the Island, tells you how to deal with a tick bite – go to the doctor -- and suggests eight ways to protect yourself from a tick bite, which is basically don’t play outdoors and if you do, check yourself, your children and your pets frequently. We are to place it in every mailbox on the Island, all 2,000 of them, and make it available in all public places. If you are one of the 700 owners of a house valued over $1 million, might you not think twice about spending weekends and summers on Shelter Island? If you could play anywhere, might you choose to play someplace else?     Tick-borne diseases are the issue here. Not permethrin in deer meat or the bays or chronic wasting disease in deer. The health of our citizens, our second homeowners and our visitors is at stake. When will our Town officials take effective action to deal with this scourge that is undermining our health and threatens our economy? No one will take our plight seriously until our Town officials step up to the plate and take responsibility for the future of our Island.     If you agree that eradicating ticks and therefore tick-borne diseases is more important than the non-scientific fear of permethrin in deer meat, then tell your Town officials in person, write a letter to the editor, or come to Tuesday’s 1 pm work session of the Town Board and speak your mind.