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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
They've lost it, lost it,
and their children
will never even wish for it -
and I am afraid . . .
because the sun keeps rising
and these days
nobody sings.
-- Aaron Kramer
As predicted, many critical environmental protections are falling, one by one, to the ultraconservative, industry backed administration of President George W. Bush. In the last couple of weeks, the plan to improve pollution controls for arsenic in our drinking water have been eliminated, worker health and safety has been compromised, and plans were put into place to suspend the rule that would hold mine owners responsible for the terrible toxic pollution they create.
Few now have any hope that a problem that has been plaguing elementary schools and colleges for decades, making our children sick and compromising the future, will get help at the federal level.
The climate for producers of toxic chemicals and deadly pollution, however, is great. Dan Danner, head of public policy for the National Federation of Independent Business, was quoted in the "Seattle Times" last week as saying "to us, this is a breath of fresh air, a ray of warm sunshine."
Sadly, few of our children can breath that fresh air in their schools, which are being relentlessly sprayed, inside and out, with millions of pounds of deadly, nervous system destroying pesticides.
Ever have a child, either in the K-12 grades or away at college, complain of headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, learning disabilities, trouble concentrating, irritability, nausea, vomiting, sore throats, rashes, eye pain, blisters, breathing problems, asthma attacks, low grade fevers, or depression?
Before you assume that he or she has the flu or go to see your doctor about attention deficit disorder, check the school's pesticide policy. The probability is high that you should consider pesticide exposure as one of the possible causes, since most schools, colleges, universities, and learning centers in the United States, and probably the world, is spraying pesticides in classrooms, locker rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and cafeterias.
A young girl and a pesticide application truck at Putnam Heights School, Wisconsin (Photo courtesy Pesticide Reporting and Reduction Project)
School officials and legislators are resisting doing anything about this crisis. The long term health impacts such as cancer and reproductive harm will inevitably show up as our children age. The sore throat your child exhibits today could manifest as cancer or reproductive dysfunction in later life.
Some of the chemicals used in schools are even prohibited for use on food crops because of their toxicity.
The federal government is well aware of this situation, but do you think that the present administration is going to suggest that a school district stop buying products from a business, even toxic products that are harming children?
In a report by the General Accounting Office issued in November 1999 titled "Use, Effects, and Alternatives to Pesticides in Schools," it is correctly stated that "children are at greater risk from pesticide exposure than most adults because, pound for pound of body weight, children breathe more, eat more, and have more rapid metabolisms than adults, and they also play on the floor and lawn where pesticides are commonly applied. Children have more frequent hand-to-mouth contact as well."
The report admits that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the legislation that controls the use of pesticides in the United States, says nothing about their use in schools. The report also admits that when a pesticide is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this does not mean that the chemical is safe.
Rather, approval means that the pesticide will not "generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment." How "generally" has been defined causes much concern.
Although pesticides are technically labeled with instructions for their use, and over 3,000 pesticides have instructions for school application, no label suggests that children should be afforded any greater protection than any other group. This omission is risking the lives of children, young adults and even adults in college as well.
The present U.S. administration is fond of leaving decision making power up to the states. Yet of the 50 U.S. states with over 110,000 public elementary schools and many thousand more private schools, daycare centers, colleges and universities, only Louisiana requires its school districts to report the amount of pesticides used.
As of November, 2000 Massachusetts became the first state to ban the use of pesticides on school property while children are present, with some exceptions such as active termite infestations.
Data is virtually unavailable, except from parents who know that their children have been harmed. The EPA report states that the American Association of Poison Control Centers data from 1993 through 1996 contains about 2,300 pesticide related exposures involving individuals at schools. But outcomes are not known for over 40 percent of the reported cases and it is believed that many thousands more may go unreported because parents do not know that their children's symptoms are related to a pesticide poisoning and few would contact a poison control center.
Proper protective gear for spraying. Yet children at school are not issued such gear during spraying. (Photo courtesy USDA Agricultural Research Service)
The pesticide industry relies upon this absence of data. Without long term studies, the industry can go on saying that since little data exists, they should be permitted to continue selling their products.
In 1991, the Environmental Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's Office surveyed 331 schools in New York to gather information on the use of pesticides in the state's public schools. They discovered that pesticides were applied at every New York City school, and at 88 percent of Nassau/Suffolk schools. Schools in the northern New York City suburbs and upstate New York reported the lowest rate of use, 74 percent.
Pesticides are being used in classrooms, offices, playgrounds, lawns, playing fields, locker rooms, bathrooms, storage rooms, basements and in school gymnasiums and day care rooms. Kitchens and cafeterias are the areas most frequently treated with pesticides. Pesticides are applied to eliminate many kinds of pests, including weeds, mice, cockroaches, ants, flies, lice, ticks, fleas and other insects. Some spray outside to kill bees, wasps, ants, rodents and pigeons.
Pesticide and solvent vapors can persist in indoor air for weeks or even years. Pesticide residues can contaminate indoor surfaces, and can remain in carpets and dust for months or years. They can also persist outdoors in soil for years and some weed-killers commonly used at schools can last from 1 to 5 years in the soil.
Colleges and adult schools are not immune. According to a concerned parent, herself a sufferer of multiple chemical sensitivity disorder (MCS), North Carolina State University indiscriminately uses pesticides in students dormitories, including the cafeteria and its kitchen, putting her daughter at great risk. Her well reasoned and rational efforts to interest the school administration in the problem have been met with ridicule and a profound lack of interest. Not only do the facilities crews apply deadly pesticides, but the housekeeping staff and even the students themselves will often use them.
Reports abound from parents with children that have been harmed. Marcia Clark, a school counselor at Wilsonville Primary School in Oregon, told the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides that she was a victim in April 2000 that she was a recent victim, as were others at the school where she works. In February of that year, one wing of the school was sprayed over a weekend with pesticides to control ants. Marcia said that "one teacher had an immediate asthma attack upon entering the school, and also developed blisters on her tongue 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 pounding headache 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 went home with 'strep throat' symptoms," Clark said.
Don't wait for your state or the federal government to act. You must take this issue into your own hands:
- Contact your children's school immediately and find out their pesticide application policy. Demand that they stop at once. Contact other parents and begin keeping detailed logs on your children's illnesses, no matter how minor. Whenever they report a symptom that could suggest pesticide poisoning, call the school and demand to know when pesticides were applied. Don't let them beat you down on this issue. Make yourself a pest that won't go away.
- Ask your children to tell you if they see anything that looks like someone applying a pesticide at school. Tell them to report any strange odors, burning sensations in their eyes, or trouble breathing to their teacher at once and to demand that you be called.
- Take a day off work with a few other parents and watch your child's school. Look for pesticide application.
Keep your children's immune systems strong by feeding them healthy, organic foods, bottled, non-fluoridated water, and as few sweets as possible. Consult your health care practitioner about giving your children echinacea or some other immune system building herb.
Politicians are working hard to rob your children of their birthright to the air, the water, and the Earth. Don't let them rob the future of the children themselves.
RESOURCES
1. Track this issue through Pesticide Watch at: http://www.pesticidewatch.org/Html/
Schools/Schools.htm. There you will find an organizing kit to help you rid your child's school of pesticides and a list of the commonly used chemicals and their effects.
2. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Demand that they stop the use of pesticides at schools throughout the U.S. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
ziptoit.html
3. Learn about the basics of pesticides and their effect from the Rachel Carson Council's comprehensive "Basic Guide to Pesticides." Excerpts and ordering information can be found at:
http://members.aol.com/rccouncil/
ourpage/samples.htm.
4. Read about incidents of pesticide exposure in schools throughout the nation at:
http://www.wsn.org/
pesticides/usexp.shtml.
5. Read about pesticides in foods at: http://ipmworld.umn.edu/
chapters/pimentel.htm.
6. See the New York State report on pesticide use in schools at: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/environment/
schools96.html.
7. Read a fact sheet on the Massachusetts Childrens' Protection Act of 2000 at:
http://www.massdfa.org:80/cpa/cpa_facts.htm
8. Read about the connection between childhood cancer and pesticides at:
http://www.monitor.net/rachel/r588.html.
9. Read a study that found that schools and parks overuse pesticides at:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2000/jun/jun13a_00.html.
10. See a report on the use of pesticides in Wisconsin schools at: http://www.wsn.org/pesticides/
schools.shtml. Urge your school district to conduct a similar study.
11. If you have any direct knowledge of the application of pesticides in your child's college or university, contact the Rachel Carson Council at:
RCCouncil@aol.com. They are compiling data for a report.
12. See a good overview on the subject at: http://www.office.com/
global/0,2724,184-17690,FF.html.
13. MSNBC did a special report on pesticide use in schools at: http://www.msnbc.com/news/423807.asp
?cp1=1#BODY.
14. See how to protect your child from the many toxic threats to brain development at:
http://www.igc.org/psr/protect-child.htm. See a complete report on the subject at:
http://www.igc.org/
psr/ihwdwnld.htm.
15. See a parent's account of the pesticide problem at North Carolina State University at:
http://home.interpath.com/sioux/tox/
INTRODUC.htm.
[Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle. He can be found wondering how many of the salmon returning from the sea to spawn in local streams are contaminated with mercury. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at
jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at
http://www.healingourworld.com/ http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/
2001L-03-23g.html |
