Help Make Ohio Schools Healthier by Encouraging Safer Pest Control Practices
Thanks to the work of the Ohio Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (OCAMP), Ohio recently passed unprecedented school safety legislation that requires all schools to adopt the safer pest control practices of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM is a common sense science-based program of prevention, sanitation, monitoring, and trapping and baiting which significantly reduces, or in many cases, eliminates the need to spray pesticides.
OCAMP’s Pesticide Alternatives for Safer Schools (PASS) campaign, along with the support of many local organizations, including Northeast Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Environmental Council, Earth Day Coalition, Environmental Health Watch, EcoCity Cleveland, EarthWatch Ohio and Ohio Department of Health, is what contributed to the school IPM mandate passing. This regulation moves Ohio from among the worst to among the better states in protecting students from unnecessary exposure to toxic pesticides. Fortunately, OCAMP was able to achieve this mandate despite strong efforts by the pest control industry to block its implementation. This landmark regulation is significant since most of Ohio schools have been regularly spraying toxic pesticides which are possibly linked to asthma1, childhood leukemia2 and learning disabilities3.
Your help is needed to insure that your local school implements this law
Every school in Ohio, public and private, is required by law to adopt the safer
pest control practices of IPM by June 30, 2008. Currently, most schools are not in
compliance with the new law. Your school needs to hear from you. Contact your school’s superintendent or business manager today. To find your school’s contact info, visit http://www.osba-ohio.org/schools.htm or call your board of education.
When you call, ask if the school district has a written IPM policy as required by Ohio Department of Health Regulation No. 3701-54-09 (12) as part of Jarod’s Law. If they say they are not yet in compliance, ask them to contact OCAMP for free advice and upcoming workshop dates to help them get started. Please let OCAMP know what kind of response you receive from your school.
Ohio Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (OCAMP) is dedicated to protecting people and the environment from unnecessary exposure to toxic pesticides. Its Pesticide Alternatives for Safer Schools project is funded by The George Gund and Nord Family Foundations. OCAMP offers workshops, consultation, speakers, and research on all areas of safer pest control.
For more information, contact Barry Zucker at 216-291-3424, 330-297-8741, ocamp@neo.rr.com or visit www.beyondpesticides.org/ocamp.
Northeast Ohio Schools that have Adopted IPM Programs Include:
Avon Lake • Beachwood • Berkshire • Cardinal • Cleveland Hts.-University Hts.
Elyria • Hawken • Independence • James A. Garfield • Keystone • Lakewood • Laurel Maple Hts. • Mayfield • Oberlin • Orange • Revere • Rocky River • Ruffing Montessori Shaker Hts. • South Euclid-Lyndhurst • West Geauga
1. Gilliland, F. D. et al, 2003; “Early life risk factors for asthma: findings from the children’s health study.” International Conference of the American Thoracic Society, May 21, 2003. Salam, M.T., et al. 2004. “Early Life Environmental Risk Factors for Asthma: Findings from the Children’s Health Study,” Environ Health Perspectives 112(6):
2. Ma, X. et al. 2002. “Critical Windows of Exposure to Household Pesticides and Risks of Childhood Leukemia.” Environ Health Perspect 110(9): 955-960; Buckley, J. et al. 2000. “Pesticide Exposure in Children with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.” Cancer 89(11): 2315-2321; Zahm, S. et al. 1998. “Pesticides and Childhood Cancer.” Environ Health Perspect 106(Supp3):893-908; Gold, E. et al. 1979. “Risk Factors for Brain Tumors in Children.” Am. J. of Epid. 109(3):309-319; Ma, X. et al, 2002; “Critical windows of exposure to household pesticides and risk of childhood leukemia” Environmental Health Perspectives, 110(9):955-60.
Lowengart, R. et al. 1987. “Childhood Leukemia and Parent’s Occupational and Home Exposures,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 79:39.
3. Rauh, V.A. et. al., Pediatrics, v.118, no.6. pp. e1845-e1859. Porter, Warren. 2004 Spring. “Do Pesticides Affect Learning and Behavior? The neuro-endocrine-immune connection,” Pesticides And You, Beyond Pesticides. 21(4): 11-15; Shettler, T., et al. 2000. “Known and suspected developmental neurotoxicants,” In Harms Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility: Cambridge, MA; Mitchell, J. et al. 1989. “The Behavioral Effects of Pesticides in Male Mice,” Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 11: 45-50.