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Pestering school authorities about pesticides
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By: ARLENE FINE Staff Reporter
Barry Zucker does not mind making a pest of himself.
And he does so repeatedly to raise awareness among parents and administrators in private and public schools about the dangers of the overuse of pesticides in their buildings.
“Due to their small size and developing organ systems, children face higher risks than adults from pesticides,” says Zucker, director of the Ohio Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (OCAMP). “Kids come home from school with symptoms like headaches, diarrhea, and rashes, and often doctors don’t pick up on the fact that it might be pesticide poisoning.”
Zucker has planned a hands-on workshop next week for Northeast Ohio public and private schools. It’s part of the Pesticide Alternatives for Safer Schools (PASS) project, funded by the George Gund Foundation.
Leading the workshop is former Clevelander Marc Lame, Ph.D., entomologist and author of an EPA award-winning book, A Worm in the Teacher’s Apple: Protecting America’s Schoolchildren from Pests and Pesticides (Authorhouse. Bloomington, Ind. 2005).
“It angers me when schools use our tax dollars to apply dangerous chemicals in and around our children’s classroom,” says Lame in a phone interview from his office at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “My goal is to convince school officials that an Integrative Pest Management system (IPM) is a more cost-effective way to reduce the risks of pests and pesticides.”
As he passionately addresses school administrators across the country, Lame tells them to do what they are doing now, but to just think pests.
“Well-managed school districts already have a sanitation program to comply with health departments to keep kids free from germs, they have a program to prevent injuries to children, they have security measures in place, and they have better energy management programs,” notes Lame. “Now they have to apply those same models to pest control.”
One way to accomplish this is by having better sanitation methods throughout the school, particularly in areas where there is food and water. “Pests can be kept out of the lunchroom and kitchen by using proper cleansing techniques, sealing food in airtight containers, and noting expiration dates,” says Lame. “Also, well-managed schools hire a pest-management professional who acts as a diagnostician and educator and shows maintenance and administrative staff how to eliminate nasty critters using non-toxic pesticides.”
By using better sanitation methods, baits, traps and targeted eco-friendly pesticides, districts can reduce use of traditional, often harmful pesticides by 71%, explains Lame.
“This is win-win for everyone,” he notes. “Kids are healthier, schools save money, and parents don’t hassle administrators.”
Lame urges parents who suspect their children are adversely affected by pesticides to contact their school officials and find out exactly what pesticides are being used in the buildings and then do research on their possible side effects. He notes that the July 2005 issue of The Journal of American Medical Association officially linked the overuse of pesticides to childhood asthma.
“Researchers discovered one of the biggest triggers for asthma are traditional pesticides, mouse dander and cockroach allergen proteins from the exoskeletons of cockroaches, which are pesticide by-products,” he notes.
One of the problems in identifying pesticide poisoning is that many symptoms are similar to the flu, says OCAMP’s Zucker. He also contends that the increase in attention deficit and childhood leukemia can be traced to overuse of pesticides.
Zucker praises school districts such as South Euclid-Lyndhurst and Beachwood for their excellent IPM programs but laments the Jewish community’s slow response to pesticide overuse.
“Last February we held a major seminar at Beachwood High School on this problem and invited public and private schools and included synagogues and Jewish day schools,” he says. “Of the 100 schools and institutions represented at the seminar, only two were Jewish. And to date, neither of them has adapted IPM systems in their buildings.”
For further information, contact Zucker at 440-442-1818 or e-mail him at ocamp@neo.rr.com.
And he does so repeatedly to raise awareness among parents and administrators in private and public schools about the dangers of the overuse of pesticides in their buildings.
“Due to their small size and developing organ systems, children face higher risks than adults from pesticides,” says Zucker, director of the Ohio Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (OCAMP). “Kids come home from school with symptoms like headaches, diarrhea, and rashes, and often doctors don’t pick up on the fact that it might be pesticide poisoning.”
Zucker has planned a hands-on workshop next week for Northeast Ohio public and private schools. It’s part of the Pesticide Alternatives for Safer Schools (PASS) project, funded by the George Gund Foundation.
Leading the workshop is former Clevelander Marc Lame, Ph.D., entomologist and author of an EPA award-winning book, A Worm in the Teacher’s Apple: Protecting America’s Schoolchildren from Pests and Pesticides (Authorhouse. Bloomington, Ind. 2005).
“It angers me when schools use our tax dollars to apply dangerous chemicals in and around our children’s classroom,” says Lame in a phone interview from his office at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “My goal is to convince school officials that an Integrative Pest Management system (IPM) is a more cost-effective way to reduce the risks of pests and pesticides.”
As he passionately addresses school administrators across the country, Lame tells them to do what they are doing now, but to just think pests.
“Well-managed school districts already have a sanitation program to comply with health departments to keep kids free from germs, they have a program to prevent injuries to children, they have security measures in place, and they have better energy management programs,” notes Lame. “Now they have to apply those same models to pest control.”
One way to accomplish this is by having better sanitation methods throughout the school, particularly in areas where there is food and water. “Pests can be kept out of the lunchroom and kitchen by using proper cleansing techniques, sealing food in airtight containers, and noting expiration dates,” says Lame. “Also, well-managed schools hire a pest-management professional who acts as a diagnostician and educator and shows maintenance and administrative staff how to eliminate nasty critters using non-toxic pesticides.”
By using better sanitation methods, baits, traps and targeted eco-friendly pesticides, districts can reduce use of traditional, often harmful pesticides by 71%, explains Lame.
“This is win-win for everyone,” he notes. “Kids are healthier, schools save money, and parents don’t hassle administrators.”
Lame urges parents who suspect their children are adversely affected by pesticides to contact their school officials and find out exactly what pesticides are being used in the buildings and then do research on their possible side effects. He notes that the July 2005 issue of The Journal of American Medical Association officially linked the overuse of pesticides to childhood asthma.
“Researchers discovered one of the biggest triggers for asthma are traditional pesticides, mouse dander and cockroach allergen proteins from the exoskeletons of cockroaches, which are pesticide by-products,” he notes.
One of the problems in identifying pesticide poisoning is that many symptoms are similar to the flu, says OCAMP’s Zucker. He also contends that the increase in attention deficit and childhood leukemia can be traced to overuse of pesticides.
Zucker praises school districts such as South Euclid-Lyndhurst and Beachwood for their excellent IPM programs but laments the Jewish community’s slow response to pesticide overuse.
“Last February we held a major seminar at Beachwood High School on this problem and invited public and private schools and included synagogues and Jewish day schools,” he says. “Of the 100 schools and institutions represented at the seminar, only two were Jewish. And to date, neither of them has adapted IPM systems in their buildings.”
For further information, contact Zucker at 440-442-1818 or e-mail him at ocamp@neo.rr.com.
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