CHILDREN HARMED
WHEN PESTICIDES ARE USED
AT SCHOOL
CHILDREN HARMED
WHEN PESTICIDES ARE USED
AT SCHOOL
Children are exposed and harmed when pesticides are used at school, according to a new report, Unthinkable Risk, released by theNorthwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). The report documents nearly 100 actual incidents, and cites additional reviews showing that literallythousands of children and school staff have been sickened by pesticide exposures at schools around the country.
"This report should be a call to action to parents, school administrators, and policy makers everywhere as school districts are beginning their spring spray schedules,"according to report author Becky Riley. "Our society has acted to get other environmental hazards, such as lead, asbestos, and cigarette smoke out of our nation'sschools, but children are still being widely exposed to, and harmed by, toxic pesticides in classrooms and on school grounds," Riley noted.
Among the key findings of the report:
* Thousands of people have reported illness related to pesticide exposures at school. Common symptoms of exposure include headaches, dizziness, respiratorydistress, nausea, sore throats, and rashes and skin irritation. School pesticide exposures have also been linked to serious and life-threatening conditions including anear-fatal acute poisoning, anaphylactic reactions, asthma attacks, and abnormal heart rhythms.* Pesticides can be surprisingly persistent, both indoors and out. Pesticide and solvent vapors can persist in indoor air for weeks or even years. Pesticide residuescan contaminate indoor surfaces, and can remain in carpets and dust for months or years. Pesticides can also persist outdoors in soil for weeks or years. Pesticidesin some weed-killers commonly used at schools can last from 1 to 5 years in the soil.
* Children can be exposed to (and made ill from) lingering vapors or residues of pesticides used at school even if the chemicals were applied hours, days, or evenweeks earlier.
* Children can be exposed to pesticides in many ways, including by breathing vapors or dusts, absorbing residues through their skin, or ingesting residues by hand tomouth contact.
* Children and school staff have been made ill from pesticides even when they were applied legally and according to label directions.
"I can personally attest to the fact that pesticides pose health risks when they are used in school settings," said Marcia Clark, a school counselor at WilsonvillePrimary School in Oregon. "I was a recent victim, as were others at the school where I work. Just this past February, one wing of our school was sprayed over aweekend with pesticides in an effort to control ants. One teacher had an immediate asthma attack upon entering the school, and also developed blisters on hertongue and gums. Other staff developed nausea, eye irritation, and headaches. After I worked in one of the affected classrooms for a half-hour, I had a poundingheadache and my voice was hoarse. Two days later, I had to miss a day of work to recuperate. By mid-week, over half the students in one first grade class wenthome with 'strep throat' symptoms," Clark related.
"Children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of toxic exposures," according to Eric Dover, MD and President-elect of Physicians for SocialResponsibility of Oregon. "They cannot detoxify or excrete certain toxic chemicals as well as adults can. That is one reason why physicians prescribe lower doses ofmedications for children," Dover noted. "Many commonly used pesticides are nerve poisons," Dover continued. "Scientists now believe that exposure to nervepoisons at certain critical stages in development can permanently affect brain function," he added. He also pointed to recent studies that have found links betweenhome and garden pesticide use and elevated rates of several common childhood cancers. "It just doesn't make sense to use these toxic chemicals at school,exposing children and taking these chances with their health," Dover concluded.
Maye Thompson, RN, and President of the District 1 Oregon Nurses Association, agrees. "As a mother and a nurse, I am very disturbed to think that when I sendmy children off to school, I might be sending them into a classroom or onto a playing field that has been sprayed with chemicals that can make them sick, affect theirbrains and learning ability, or even cause cancer," Thompson said.
"As this new report shows, pesticide residues can remain in soil or carpeting for a surprisingly long time," Thompson noted. "Young children roll on the ground andplay in dirt and even put things in their mouths. That's what kids do. School grounds and school classrooms are not the place to be using hazardous chemicals,"Thompson added. She explained that sanitation is a better way to control most indoor 'pests,' and no toxic residues remain to contaminate the environment.Outdoors, Thompson believes that the priority should be children's health and safety, not what the grass looks like or whether there are weeds in the shrub beds.
The recommendations in NCAP's report call on school districts everywhere to adopt non-toxic pest control measures, and policies to minimize or eliminate the useof pesticides. "Pesticides should be used only as a last resort, if pests pose an imminent health and safety hazard, and if other control alternatives are not available,"Riley stressed. "Fortunately, schools don't have to choose between pests and pesticides--many safer pest control methods are available," she noted."
"Schools also need to provide advance notification if pesticides are used," Clark added. "It is our right to know," she emphasized. "Too often, parents and schoolstaff are not notified about pesticide applications and warning notices are not posted. If we had been notified in advance, we could have taken precautions. I wouldnever have worked with children in that room if I had known it had been treated with toxic chemicals," Clark said. "The fumes were still strong enough to make meand other adults very ill. Children should not have been exposed. This is only common sense," she continued. Clark also noted that most of the parents of childrenwho were taken out of school with sore throats that week probably still have no idea that their children were exposed to toxic pesticides. "That is wrong," she said.
Written by: Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
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