Pesticides In Schools: A Growing Problem

Chicago-Based Organization Fights To Rid Schools Of Harmful Chemicals

July 27, 2005

CHICAGO -- Kids may not be willing to admit it, but "back to school" season is already getting approaching.

As it does, Target 5 pointed to a new report which calls attention to a problem in schools across the nation, linking pesticides to illness.

The recent study, published in the Journal Of The American Medical Association finds that the rate of illness linked to pesticides and similar chemicals is on the rise in U.S. schools.

Related illnesses are found to range from rashes, sore throats and headaches to the more serious maladies such as asthma and its long-term effects.

Target 5's Lisa Parker said that a Chicago-based organization aimed at making schools safer says the findings are not surprising.

Beyond the books in the classroom and the brown bags in the lunchroom, pesticides may lurk in the school hallways or on the green grass of the football field.

The JAMA study found illness among school children, directly linked to the pesticides found in those locations, rose sharply between 1998 and 2002 in schools across the country.

"These children are very vulnerable to the affects of pesticide exposure," said Rachel Rosenberg, of the Safer Pest Control Project.

"They are vulnerable because they are very small, their behaviors make them more exposed to pesticides, they are on the floor (and) they're putting things in their mouth," she said.

Rosenberg is the executive director of the Safer Pest Control Project, a Chicago-based, non-profit group dedicated to removing pesticides from the school environment.

With the help of a private grant, the group works closely with all 600 Chicago public schools in an effort to get them on board with the Integrated Pest Management program, or IPM.

Instead of monthly spraying at schools, the program is designed to get to the root of the pest problem.

"Instead of just spraying pesticides and killing the pests that you see, you are going to go to the root cause of the problem and find out and get rid of what they are eating, what they are drinking, what they are sleeping in," Rosenberg said. "It has a lot to do with improved sanitation (and) improved maintenance."

But just as pesky as the bugs themselves, Rosenberg says there are budget problems within the Chicago Public Schools system, as well as insufficient training programs that hinder the implementation of IPMs.

Parker said there are no specific federal requirements for limits on pesticide exposure in schools.

Some states, including Illinois, require the use of an IPM program, but proponents say enforcement is severely lacking.

Parker added that Chicago is the "epicenter of asthmatic children," with nearly 122,00 pediatric cases reported.

She said that asthma is the number one reason for absenteeism in Chicago schools.

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