In my last column I made mention of the adverse effects that pesticides in food have on children. I have struggled with how to talk about the issue of children and pesticides without causing alarm, but after spending many hours researching this material I realize that perhaps we need to be alarmed. Despite the number of studies and organizations that support the fact that our children are being harmed by pesticides in our foods and in our homes and schools, we still appear blissfully ignorant or unwilling to take serious measures to change things. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has come out with facts and figures establishing the danger of pesticides to our children and yet these very pesticides are still being sold and used in food production, in our homes and in our schools.

Government wheels grind very slowly and it often takes years after a substance is proven dangerous to health for it to be officially banned for sale in the US. Even then any unsold products left in stores may legally be sold and products bought before the ban may be used. The stores selling these products will not tell you that they are a banned substance. There are also many substances that were approved before we had the understanding of their effects that we have today. These will be coming up for review by the EPA soon, but even after being found unsafe it will take many years to rid the system of them. Many banned substances are then sold to countries that have not outlawed them yet and they come back to us on imported fruits and vegetables. My point is that just because you can still buy a substance does not mean that it is safe to use. And even if it is thought to be safe for adults it probably isn’t for children.

One aspect of the new standards that pesticides and other toxic substances will be judged by is the effect they have on children. A child’s growing body is not like a small adult. It is entirely different and the effects of any substance on it are vastly different than on an adult body. Until now products have only been tested on adults. “The more we learn about chemicals,” says Dr. Gina Solomon, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, “the more we learn that very, very early in life is the most susceptible period.” A 1987 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that children whose parents used pesticides in their homes and gardens were seven times more likely to get leukemia.

Kids Need Protection

As the Washington Toxics Coalition says “Children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pesticides. Due to their behaviors like playing on the ground, and the fact that, pound for pound, they eat, drink and breathe more than adults, they have greater exposures to pesticides than adults. When they are exposed, children's developing systems are less able to cope with the toxic effects of pesticides. Yet pesticides -- including highly hazardous pesticides -- are currently used in…schools without adequate public notification, and children can be exposed without the knowledge of parents or teachers.” Health professionals and educators agree that pesticides pose a serious short term and long term threat to our children’s health. The National PTA (Parent Teacher Association) and many other educational organizations have called for a reduction of pesticide use in our schools and are supporting a new bill called the School Environment Protection Act (more about that later in the article).

SYMPTOMS

The acute symptoms of overexposure to pesticides include headache, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, skin rash, asthma attack, and respiratory irritation. Often these symptoms are misdiagnosed because of the similarity to other illnesses such as “flu”. The long-term effects, proven by many scientific studies, are much more frightening and may not appear for months or years after exposure. They include birth defects, cancer, nervous system disorders and immune deficiency. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), cancer is the chief cause of death by disease in children under 15 years of age. Between 1973 and 1995, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) calculates that child brain and nervous system cancers increased 26 percent; acute lymphocytic leukemias grew 13.5 percent. These increases were even greater in children under five, where brain cancer rose 53 percent and leukemia 18 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 96 pesticides as potential human carcinogens. The agency recently ordered the phaseout of two popular home and school use pesticides—chlorpyrifos (Dursban)and diazinon—in part because of their effects on children’s nervous systems. This simply means that even though it has been recognized as dangerous to children’s health they will still be sold for some time to come.

Schools often try to prevent direct exposure by using pesticides in the classrooms and cafeterias after school hours but studies have shown that pesticides remain potent indoors for weeks and even months after application. Sunlight, soil microbes and rain can work to break down those used outside, but those used inside, even the non-persistent substances, last sometimes for years. One study showed that 21 days after application the air levels of diazinon were 20% of the level the day of application. Some like 2,4-D can be tracked in on shoes and have been found to persist in carpet dust for as long as one year.

What can you do?

· To learn more you need only go on the internet and do a search on “children and pesticides”. Beyond Pesticides and many other organizations have detailed information to help you understand this issue.

· Learn about alternative, nontoxic pest management practices and use them at home

· Talk to your school principal about how your school deals with pests.

· Ask other parents, friends, and the PTA for their support in helping to start an alternative pest management program in your school system.

· Research the pesticides that you and your school use. How toxic are they and what are their effects on human health?

The School Environment Protection Act (SEPA)

On February 13, 2002 the Senate passed the School Environment Protection Act (SEPA) as part of a Farm Bill. According to the Beyond Pesticides folks “This

important piece of legislation requires public schools to implement safer approaches to pest management that rely on a range of non-chemical and chemical alternatives and requires notice be provided to parents and school staff when pesticides are used.” It now goes to a Senate-House Agriculture Conference Committee.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED.

This bill could be derailed in committee if we don’t speak out right away in support of it. This could give us the support we need to make changes in the use of pesticides in our school system. Call, fax, write or email Bill Nelson (http://billnelson.senate.gov/) and Bob Graham (http://graham.senate.gov/) and ask them to support SEPA.

There are safe, effective and economical tools readily available for dealing with pests in our schools and home. We don’t need to endanger our children’s health. SEPA will help to put these alternatives in place.

Protect our children. They are our future.

For more information contact Kagan Owens at 202-543-5450 or kowens@beyondpesticides.org. Or go to the website of the National Coalition Against Misuse of Pesticides - http://www.ncamp.org

This column comes to you courtesy of the Environmental Concerns Group of the DeFuniak Springs Garden Club.