School Board votes to cut pesticide use

(another school recognizes the danger and votes in favor of kids and against pesticides)

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[ MEMORIAL TO VICTIM of PESTICIDE POISONING ]

Subject:   ANCORAGE BANS PESTICIDE USE IN SCHOOLS!-----
Date:       Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:38:28 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read an article that appeared 2/24/00 in the Anchorage Daily News http://www.adn.com/stories/T00022407.html#TOP entitled:

School Board cuts pesticide use - Spraying deemed a health risk, allowed only when bugs a threat. By PETER PORCO, Daily News reporter.

The Anchorage School Board on Wednesday night agreed to restrict the use of pesticides in local schools. The new policy allows pesticides to be used only when bugs threaten health or safety.

The unanimous vote - the second on the issue in two weeks - was a victory for a group of students, teachers, parents and activists who convinced school district administrators that routine spraying posed a health risk and was unnecessary.

"I really believe this policy is precedent-setting, not only for the state but for the country," Pam Miller, program director for Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

"Specifically it says that pesticides will be used only as a last resort."

Under the district's previous plan, the exteriors of all schools were sprayed at least once a year with carbaryl, a federally regulated ("registered") pesticide. Carbaryl can be toxic when ingested in large quantities but is considered safe when used properly, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. (I thought it was against the federal law to say even the labeled use of any "registered" POISON was "safe".)

The district's carbaryl spraying occurred usually in August, without notice to parents and school staff.

The new plan calls for notification of students, parents and staff whenever a building is to be treated with a pesticide. But the plan calls for nonpesticide control measures - caulking cracks in walls and floors and keeping facilities as clean as possible, for example - to be tried first.

Pesticides may be used "only if pests present a health and safety hazard, not for aesthetic or nuisance purposes," the plan states.

Superintendent Bob Christal commended Alaska Community Action on Toxics, which spearhead the drive to reform the district's pest management plan. After meeting with group members and other activists last summer, Christal ordered a review of the district's pest-management policies and suspended the annual spraying of carbaryl.

The organization reviewed a draft of the plan and made recommendations, said Stanley Syta, the district's director of operations.

"This has been a collaborative effort," Syta said last week at the board's hearing on the policy. "Central to the plan is notification" for those using the buildings.

The plan establishes a new position of pest management technician, whose salary will be about $40,000 a year, officials said. The district will save about $20,000 if it doesn't spray.

The use of pesticides in schools has been brought to the attention of the Legislature. State Rep. Sharon Cissna, D-Anchorage, has introduced a bill that would enable parents and others to monitor the use of pesticides in public places.

On a national level, the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, tried unsuccessfully to determine the amount of pesticides used in the nation's schools, the degree to which children are exposed to them, and how their health might be affected, according to the National School Boards Association.

Several U.S. senators are trying to pass bills that would make schools notify the community before they use pesticides and to have schools adopt the least-toxic approach, the association said.

* Reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com <mailto:pporco@adn.com> and at 257-4582.

Lyndon, when will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use any safe and effective alternatives to actually control pest problems rather than only allowing the use your dangerous "registered" POISONS?

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten

TOP

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