Sick School Syndrome - Are Your Kids at Risk?

 

 

[ Pesticide Poisoning and Kids ] * [ Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning ]
[ MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS ]

Subject:   May Ladies' Home Journal Article----
Date:      Mon, 01 May 2000 08:20:18 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

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

Dear Lyndon, I thought you might like to read the May, 2000 article entitled Sick School Syndrome - Are Your Kids at Risk?  It is posted at:  http://www.getipm.com/pesticides/sick-schoolsyndrom.htm - and says in part:  

Substantial research links pesticides to numerous health risks.  A study in the American Journal of Public health found evidence to suggest that the use of yard treatments and pest strips at home might be associated with childhood development of some cancers.  And as pesticide use has grown in the U.S. – to around 1.2 billion pounds in 1995 – so has the incidence of asthma and childhood cancers, especially leukemia and brain tumors.  

“A number of studies show that low-level exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with poor neurodevelopment and slower growth in developing animals,” says Brenda Eskenazi, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health, and director of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health Research at the University of California, Berkeley.  

“Given this evidence, concluded Landrigan, “I believe there’s a strong possibility that chronic exposure also affects children’s nervous systems causing permanent damage, including loss of intelligence and alteration of normal behavior.  Minimizing exposure is simply a prudent course of action.”  

Well Lyndon, when do you think it will be prudent to allow the use of safe and far more effective alternatives to actually control pest problems in California?  

Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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