Subject: James Hageman’s (R-Ft. Laramie) proposed bill (HB0028)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 08:39:41 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: hageman@actcom.net, Irene Wilkenfeld <irw@uswest.net>
Dear Representative James Hageman,
I would like to comment on your proposed bill (HB0028)
calling for notification of pesticide applications at Wyoming schools.
Your Bill suggests that by alerting the occupants of a schoolhouse of
an impending pesticidal application, that they will be afforded some level of
"protection" from harm. This
"notification" will only provide a false sense of security.
I would like to echo the words of a friend of mine, Irene Wilkenfeld.
PESTICIDES ARE INTENTIONAL POISONS.
The pesticides most frequently used in and around our schools
(organophosphates) are domesticated versions of wartime nerve gas agents. They
were specifically designed to KILL and/or
INJURE by chemically disrupting the normal functioning of the nervous system.
Once released into the environment, they can continue to persist and
contaminate for weeks, months, years, even decades.
Only the active POISON ingredient is ever considered when risk is
considered. The transformation by-products, contaminants, "inerts"
and any and all synergistic health effects are all simply ignored and/or
unknown. Many of these unknown dangers are far more deadly than the
active ingredient in the pesticide POISON!
Pesticides pose a serious threat to the physical,
emotional and mental development of our children and to future generations.
Studies have shown that children do not learn or function as well when they
are exposed to pesticides - so why would anyone want to add them to the
"learning" environment? Pesticides
can trigger environmental hypersensitivities, allergies, asthma, chronic
fatigue syndrome, personality changes, irritability, insomnia, hyperactivity,
learning and behavioral disabilities (and other neurotoxic effects), and
defects in hormonal and sexual development and death.
A National Cancer Institute study reported that children are as much as
six times more likely to get childhood leukemia when exposed to garden and
home pesticides. The pesticides used in schools by pest control applicators
are often stronger and therefore more deadly.
Cosmetic lawn chemicals are tracked indoors, where carpet
fibers, dust and porous furnishings become long-term reservoirs for these
intentional poisons. Tests by the
U.S. EPA demonstrate that indoor detectable levels of these chemicals are
often 10 – 100 times higher than those measured outdoors.
Given just these few facts, nothing less than A ZERO
PESTICIDE TOLERANCE POLICY is sensible. The
concept of PESTICIDE NOTIFICATION is analogous to a sexual offender
notification plan. Would parents
send their kids to school knowing a sexual predator would be released in the
building within 72 hours? Clearly this would be intolerable!
And so too is the intentional release of any dangerous, volatile poison
in any classroom or schoolyard.
Pesticide exposure can lead to a lifelong legacy of
disability, disease, despair and altered destiny. The only safe method of pest control is TRUE INTEGRATED PEST
MANAGEMENT. True IPM is
non-toxic, efficacious and cost effective.
It’s time to “just say no” to contaminating our classrooms! IPM is NOT an acronym for: Include Pesticides Monthly!
I would like to add that these dangerous, volatile
pesticide POISONS do not work - if they did, why are they sprayed over and
over? Over half of the pest species of insects are resistant to these
synthetic insecticides and there is an exponential increase in resistance in
the rest. After spraying over a
billion pounds of just the active poison ingredients, not even one pest
species has been controlled much less eliminated!
Why continue to spray POISONS that do not even "control" pest
problems.
We have safely and effectively removed all pest
problems inside and outside in over 350 schools without ever using any
volatile pesticide poisons! You
may wish to visit our web site located at:
http://www.getipm.com and see how you can do it too!
I will give you a little hint, My Mother taught me true IPM when I was
about 4 years old, she said: "If
you shut the door you will not let in the flies."
Common sense is not too common, or we would learn to shut the door,
rather than spraying the flies with more and more POISONS!
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Tvedten
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