TOXICS INFORMATION PROJECT
(TIP)
TOXICS INFORMATION PROJECT
(TIP)
Tel. 401-351-9193, E-Mail: TIP@toxicsinfo.org
Website:
www.toxicsinfo.org
(Sharing
Information on Toxics in Everyday Life
&
Providing Healthier Alternatives)
Children Harmed When Pesticides Are Used at School
New Report Documents Pesticide Poisoning Incidents
Eugene, OR--Children are exposed and harmed when pesticides are used at school,
according to a new report, Unthinkable Risk, released today by the Northwest
Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). The report documents nearly
100 actual incidents, and cites additional reviews showing that literally
thousands 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's schools, 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, respiratory
distress, nausea, sore throats, and rashes and skin irritation. School pesticide
exposures have also been linked to serious and life-threatening conditions
including a near-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
residues can 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. Pesticides in 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 even weeks 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 to mouth 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 Wilsonville Primary 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 a weekend with pesticides in an effort
to control ants. 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 related.
"Children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of toxic exposures,"
according to Eric Dover, MD and President-elect of Physicians for Social
Responsibility of Oregon. "They cannot detoxify or excrete certain toxic
chemicals as well as adults can. That is one reason why physicians prescribe
lower doses of medications for children," Dover noted. "Many commonly used
pesticides are nerve poisons," Dover continued. "Scientists now believe that
exposure to nerve poisons at certain critical stages in development can permanently
affect brain function," he added. He also pointed to recent studies that
have found links between home and garden pesticide use and elevated rates
of several common childhood cancers. "It just doesnÕt 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 send my 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 their brains 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 and play 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 use of 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 school staff 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 would never 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 me and 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
children who 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.
News Release April 4, 2000 (Tuesday)
Contact: Becky Riley, NCAP, (541) 344-5044 x 25
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