Florida schools find safe alternatives to pesticides - Teacher Magazine - February 1999

[Guest guest]

A Bug's Life...And Death

Florida schools find safe alternatives to pesticides.

Cockroaches may make most people's skin crawl, but it's the pesticides used

to kill them that Boyd wants to avoid. The 16-year-old Cocoa Beach,

Florida, student says she developed such debilitating health problems from

pesticide exposure at her elementary school that she had to give up outdoor

sports and attend classes in a special wing of the school.

But nowadays, Boyd, a high school junior, is breathing easier, thanks to a

new pest-control program that the Brevard County district adopted three

years ago. Developed by the state with help from university entomologists,

the program reduces the need for pesticides in schools by improving

sanitation. " Before, if you said bug spray made you sick, people thought you

were psycho, " says Boyd, who has been diagnosed with a chemical-sensitivity

disorder. " Now people are more open-minded about it. "

In fact, some 85 percent of districts in bug-rich Florida have signed on to

the voluntary pest-control program, many to avoid potential lawsuits.

" Pesticides are a useful tool, " says Althouse, environmental

coordinator for the state education department, " but every time we use one,

we take a risk that we could have a misapplication or accidental poisoning. "

Florida isn't alone. Over the past decade, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, and

West Virginia have all adopted laws or regulations to reduce pesticide use

in schools. Experts estimate that thousands of districts nationwide have

traded in their spray cans for vacuums.

" I say if you smell a musky odor, your kitchen isn't clean, " says Katy

Elkin, manager of the kitchen at Andersen Elementary School in Brevard

County. Though her shift ends at 2:15 p.m., Elkin often stays until 6,

scrubbing floor drains, sweeping up crumbs, and cleaning and shining huge

metal pots used to prepare soup for the school's 600 children. " You have to

stay on top of this, or you have bugs, " she says. " Grease is what they

love. "

At nearby Spacecoast Middle School, janitors sweep through the cafeteria

moments after the school's 1,150 students finish lunch each day. The crew

wipes the tables with a low-toxicity disinfectant, carts the trash to an

outside Dumpster, and polishes the floors. Within 30 minutes, the room is

sparkling again. " If we didn't clean, we'd be overrun with roaches and

centipedes, " head custodian Andy Steinert says. " Every bug in Florida would

move in quick. "

District administrators also ask employees to keep any food they have at

school in air-tight containers. Larry Graves, principal at Spacecoast, has

even imposed dining restrictions. Staff members, including teachers, are

prohibited from eating anywhere but in the cafeteria and one other

designated room. Coffee and soft drinks are not allowed in classrooms.

Graves describes the rules as preventative measures. " We aren't doing it to

be punitive, " he says.

Bugs, rodents, and other pests may pose health risks to children. Rats can

carry viruses. Cockroaches and their droppings have been linked to asthma.

And some spiders are deadly. Last year, three Florida children died after

being bitten by fire ants. Still, many of the chemicals that schools use to

fight such pests can be just as dangerous, says , industrial

hygienist for the 69,000-student Brevard County system. " Just because you

see a palmetto bug is no reason to lace the room with pesticides, " he says.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says studies have shown that

pesticides such as organophosphates--still used in many schools

nationwide--have been associated with cancers, nervous-system dysfunction,

seizures, and birth defects. Though effects vary depending on the toxicity

of the pesticide and the length of exposure, children are more sensitive

than adults to most substances.

Before adopting the state's new program, Brevard County school officials

regularly deployed strong chemicals both inside and outside their buildings.

Now the district turns to pesticides only occasionally, using the smallest

possible amount of the least toxic varieties.

Just before Thanksgiving, exterminators from Truly Nolen, a pest-control

company under contract with the district, staunched a trail of ghost ants at

Satellite High School with bait made from apple jelly and boric acid. The

acid kills the insects without posing a hazard to students, says Dave

Filkins, a company manager. Filkins estimates that an adult would have to

consume six to eight pounds of boric acid for it to be lethal.

The company also uses a natural pesticide extracted from chrysanthemums,

Filkins says. And employees have captured rats using traps laced with peanut

butter. Though the company never sprays pesticides inside school buildings,

it does apply herbicides twice a year on athletic fields to exterminate mole

crickets and chinch bugs.

For the most part, the pest-control industry has supported Florida's new

tactics, in part because companies like Truly Nolen can still sell their

expertise to schools. But some national environmental experts and

chemical-company representatives say the dangers of pesticides to children

have been exaggerated. " It's one story if they eat rat poison, " says

Green, director of environmental programs at the Reason Public Policy

Institute in Los Angeles. " But most children exposed to normal, residual

amounts of pesticides that are applied properly won't show adverse effects. "

Schools, Green argues, can't structure the world to suit their most

sensitive children. " Some kids are allergic to peanuts, " he says, " but that

doesn't mean you ban them. "

Boyd, mother of , the Cocoa Beach girl who suffered from

pesticide exposure at school, disagrees. Boyd lobbied hard for the new pest-

control program in Brevard County, and she believes it has made all the

difference for her daughter. " Every year, she has gotten healthier, " Boyd

says. " I still cry to think that places are using chemicals around precious

little babies. "

-- Portner

PHOTO: Kitchen manager Katy Elkin tries to stay one step ahead of bugs.

--Delinda Karnehm

Read " Pesticides in Our Schools, " from the California State Parent Teacher

Association's Winter/Spring 1998 newsletter.

http://capta.org/issues/News60.4Win_Sp/2pesticides.html

" Resource Guide on Children's Environmental Health, " from the Children's

Environmental Health Network.

http://www.cehn.org/ResourceGuide.html

Read our story, " An Ill Wind, " October 1998, about pesticide use in

California.

http://www.edweek.org/tm/vol-10/02pest.h10

Read an Education Week story, " Danger Below?, " Oct. 22, 1997, about a school

built on an EPA Superfund site.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-17/08epa.h17

© 1999 Editorial Projects in Education Vol. 10, number 5, page 11-12