Embargoed For Release: April 4, 2000

For More Information Contact:

Kelly Campbell, Californians for Pesticide Reform, (415) 981-3939 ext. 6

Becky Riley, NCAP (541) 344-5044 x 25

NEWS RELEASE

Children Exposed and Harmed by Pesticide Use In Schools

National Report Documents Pesticide Poisoning Incidents

SAN FRANCISCO-Children and others are exposed and harmed by pesticide exposures at school, according to a newly released report Unthinkable Risk: How Children Are Exposed and Harmed When Pesticides Are Used At School written by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. The report profiles nearly one hundred pesticide poisoning incidents in schools in California and around the country, revealing that children and school staff have been sickened by pesticide exposures, in some cases by legal pesticide applications.

The report found that some school pesticide exposures have been linked to serious and life-threatening conditions including a near-fatal acute poisoning, anaphylactic shock, asthma attacks, and abnormal heart rhythms. One such incident profiled in the report occurred in Fontana, California where a middle school hired a pest control firm to control flies and other insect pests. A cardiologist at Loma Linda Medical Center believes the exposure to pesticides used at the middle school triggered heart arrhythmia episodes that eventually killed tenth grader Chrissy Garavito. Other common symptoms of exposure to pesticides in schools documented in the incident reports included headaches, dizziness, respiratory distress, nausea, sore throats, rashes and skin irritation.

"This report should be a call to action to parents, school administrators, and policy makers every where as school districts are beginning their spring spraying schedules to eliminate and reduce pesticide use," according to 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, yet children are still being widely exposed to, and harmed by, toxic pesticides in classrooms and on school grounds," she noted.

A review of pesticide studies showed that 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 last outdoors in soil for weeks or years. Pesticides in some weed-killers commonly used at schools can last from one to five years in the soil.

"Parents and teachers have a right to know what poisons are being used in school," said Kelly Campbell, Program Associate at Californians for Pesticide Reform. "Too often parents and school staff are not notified about pesticide applications and learns the hard way, by getting sick."

Pesticides are poisons intended to kill unwanted living organisms such as weeds or insect "pests." A growing body of scientific and medical evidence suggests that children are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of some pesticides. Children's play habits bring them into closer contact with pesticide residues and their developing systems make them more vulnerable to some toxins.

"Pesticides are being applied on and near our schools, where our children spend 30 hours a week, for 9 months of the year. As a doctor, and as a father, I am concerned," said Kent Bransford, M.D. "Pesticide exposure has been linked to a variety to toxic health effects. These include acute toxic reactions such as anaphylactic shock and skin sores, to numerous chronic effects, including a possible link to the rise in childhood cancers. The best approach is preventive medicine. We need to protect our children from exposure to these toxic chemicals."

NCAP and Californians for Pesticide Reform recommended that:

* The California legislature should pass The Healthy Schools Act of 2000, AB 2260, authored by Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco). AB 2260 requires that schools use least toxic pest control, offers them training and provides parents, teachers and staff pre-notification and information on all pesticide applications occurring on the school grounds.

* School Districts should eliminate the use of the worst pesticides and adopt safer pest management programs. Schools should recognize that any use of pesticides in a school setting poses risks and that minimizing or eliminating their use should be a formal stated goal.

* Parents should request pesticide use information from their school district, encourage their schools to eliminate the use of the worst pesticides and adopt least-toxic pest management programs. Parents are encouraged to write their legislators and the Governor to pass AB 2260 to gain the right to know when, where, and what pesticides are used at their children's school.

"Parents should not wait until there is a pesticide poisoning incident at their school to find out what pesticides are being used," said Dorothea Dorenz, parent at Ocean View School in Albany and Chairperson of Albany Coalition for Environmental Health. "Our legislators should pass AB 2260 and require schools to notify parents about what pesticides they plan to use and when they plan to use them."