Choosing prudence over pesticides

Shane and Sandy Hawkins, who live with their two children in the shadow of East Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest, say they didn't think twice about having their mobile home sprayed inside and out when they had a problem with scorpions in 1997.

[ Sandy Hawkins writes about what happened ]

            

Subject:    Choosing prudence over pesticides
 Date:        Wed, 18 Apr 2001 09:10:30 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an article from the Tennessean, entitled: Choosing prudence over pesticides - Tuesday, 04-10-0. http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/04/04084768.shtml

Choosing prudence over pesticides - By BILL SNYDER - Staff Writer

Shane and Sandy Hawkins, who live with their two children in the shadow of East Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest, say they didn't think twice about having their mobile home sprayed inside and out when they had a problem with scorpions in 1997.

Now they wish they had.

Their daughter Shanedra, who was 2 at the time, has developed severe neurological problems the Tellico Plains couple believes were caused by too much pesticide being applied to their home. They are suing the pest-control company.

The company, Otis Termite and Pest Control Service of Knoxville, denies the charge. A trial date is pending.

The frustrating part for the Hawkinses is that so little is known about the effects of pesticide exposure on children, although studies currently are under way. In the meantime, there are several common-sense ways to minimize pesticide exposure.

Schools, child-care centers and pest-control companies increasingly are adopting an approach known as integrated pest management.

The techniques include taking steps to prevent pests from entering buildings, by caulking windows and cracks and placing sweeps under doors, and by placing pesticide baits to attract and kill insects rather than spraying the walls and floors.

Nashville's Metro schools have used integrated pest management for more than three years. The Tennessee General Assembly is considering legislation that would require school districts throughout the state to adopt the techniques.

Homeowners also can adopt the integrated approach to managing pests by maintaining the upkeep on their home and by hiring a pest-control company that uses the newer techniques.

''If you have a chemical you're spraying in the air that is strong enough to kill something, I assume there would be some kind of effect on a human being,'' says Rick Schipper, operations and grounds supervisor for Metro schools. ''That's why I love the newer ways.

''Take away their food and water source, and they'll go somewhere else to feed. Treat with minimally toxic products.''

Traditionally, pesticides have been sprayed on exposed surfaces, including walls and baseboards, on a regularly scheduled basis even when pests are not a problem. These are often the same surfaces that children touch.

Here's why parents should be concerned about pesticides:

According to a 1999 report by the General Accounting Office, ''children are at greater risk from pesticide exposure than most adults because, pound for pound of body weight, children breathe more (and) eat more, and … they also play on the floor and lawn, where pesticides are commonly applied.''

Between 1993 and 1996, ''about 2,300 pesticide-related exposures involving individuals at schools were reported,'' the GAO says. ''However … outcomes are not known for over 40% of the reported cases.''

Information on the long-term effects of pesticide exposure is limited, but high doses of Dursban, a pesticide that is being phased off the market, can cause dizziness, confusion and muscle weakness, federal health officials say.

Several years ago, a Texas school was sprayed with toxaphene and lindane in an attempt to control a lice outbreak.

''This caused students to have severe headaches, nausea (and) skin irritations … which resulted in the school being closed for four weeks for decontamination,'' wrote Karen Vail, extension urban entomologist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, in a 1997 report.

Vail says the incident led to a law requiring integrated pest management in Texas schools.

Representatives of the pesticide industry respond that, when properly used, pesticides are safe and serve an important public-health function: to prevent exposure to diseases that can be spread by pests such as roaches and rats. (I would like to add that it is against the federal law to say that even the labeled use of any "registered" POISON is "safe".)

Cockroaches, for example, ''are the leading cause of asthma in urban youth,'' according to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. ''The more children are exposed to cockroaches, the more allergic they become.'' (That is why I recommend vacuuming them up at night with a red light - then you do not have to breathe their decaying bodies or the "registered" POISONS for the next few months!)

Vail says that integrated pest management can successfully control pest populations, while limiting exposure of children to the pesticide products.

In Metro schools, for example, integrated pest management has reduced complaints about pests and pesticide fumes, Schipper says. In addition, the annual bill for pest control has not risen in 10 years.

Tellico Plains Elementary School switched to integrated pest management this past fall, after Shanedra, now 5, developed what appeared to be an allergic reaction to pesticides used in the building.

''Shortly after she started (kindergarten), her teacher noticed she was becoming really weak toward the end of the day,'' says Sandy Hawkins, who pulled her daughter out of school and got the administration to try a new way to control pests.

As a first step, students were no longer allowed to eat snacks in their classroom. Now ''they go to one central location close to the cafeteria,'' says principal Sharon Benton.

''Our maintenance department has done a lot of caulking, adding weather stripping and seals on the outside doors … a lot of things I'm sure needed to be done anyway,'' she says.

''We basically stopped using anything besides baits,'' adds Dewey Scarbrough, owner of Foothills Pest Control in Maryville, Tenn., which handles the school's pest-control program. The pest problem ''seems to be coming under control as quickly that way as any other type of system we used before,'' he says.

Most important, Shanedra has been able to go back to school, her mother says.

''In the long run, (integrated pest management) will be healthier for everyone,'' says Benton, Shanedra's principal. ''We've gotten to the point where we just spray all around us. We don't even think about what we're doing to ourselves.''

Bill Snyder covers health for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8226 or bsnyder@tennessean.com.

Well Mr. Helliker, When will it be "legal" (in your opinion) for pest control people to use safe and far more effective (unregistered) alternatives to actually control pest problems? Marcus Aurelius once noted: "Our life is what our thoughts make it." What are your thoughts Mr. Helliker? 

Respeectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten

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