Recent news that
the continued usage of lawn chemicals on school grounds is even being
considered is disturbing. The current lawn care contract cost the ICCC District
over $429,000, and it is unclear how much of that sum was for pesticides.
Apparently the School Board’s discussions regarding renewal of the contract for
lawn care include some uncertainty about whether and when to allow the use of
lawn chemicals.
In using the
system called “Integrated Pest Management”, how is it decided when it is
necessary to apply pesticides? Quality Care, the district’s current applicator,
is well-known for it’s ‘four times a year’ application work on area lawns:
chemical fertilizer and early weed control in the spring; chemical fertilizer
and pest control in early summer; chemical fertilizer and chemical weed control
in early fall; and another application of chemical fertilizer before winter
sets in. Is there an industry standard recommending these applications when
weed numbers per square foot or yard reach a numerical level? The fact is, it’s
never necessary and the school board should not be weighing the health and
safety of the children vs. the questionable aesthetics of a weed free lawn.
Nitrogen, which does help lawns grow thicker (which helps keep weeds from
becoming established), is easily supplied by applications of organic corn
gluten, although sweet clover is a purely natural provider of soil nitrogen.
When Roundup
first appeared, it was advertised as ‘not harmful to children or pets’, and ‘
not persistent, quickly degrading’. But quite soon it became clear that Roundup
causes lymphoma in dogs and that it is far more persistent than first thought.
Dogs play on lawns and dogs are considered fit for use in medical research
because dog physiology is sufficiently similar to human; children play on the
grass too and the conclusion to be drawn is obvious.
The latest
research shows Roundup to be even more toxic than previously thought, because
it contains “confidential” and unlabeled ingredients that affect all living
cells, according to the journal Toxicology.
When it appeared, Roundup was just the
latest in a string of chemicals that the chemical industry claimed were
‘harmless’ or ‘relatively harmless’ and that subsequently were shown to be
exceedingly toxic. It is finally being recognized that the widely
used organophosphate pesticides – which are neurotoxins –are a probable cause
of Parkinson’s disease, the increased incidence of ADHD, and other
neurologically based disorders.
Good rules to remember are:
1) A “safe pesticide”
is an oxymoron. There is no such thing. And “safely applied” and “used
correctly” are phrases designed to lull consumers into illusions under which
they will buy the product.
2) Because children
have so many rapidly growing tissues they are especially vulnerable to
pesticides’ dangers.
As educated persons in charge of our
children’s schools, school board members should know these two rules. If they
don’t, they must educate themselves to understand them. If they do know and yet
persist in allowing lawn chemicals to be used on school lawns, they should
resign or be removed from office because they are knowingly putting children
into serious danger.
Dandelions and
sweet clover in a lawn do not cause it to be ugly and both are more resistant
to drought than grass. It does require some thought to see a lawn
sprinkled with the yellow and white flowers as pretty, but many potential
adverse effects to our children’s health would be averted if a majority of the
School Board can look at such lawns and think, “that’s healthier and prettier
than weed free, look-alike sprayed yards.”
It’s time to let
science rule what we do to our environment: stopping pesticide use on
school property is one good place to start.
(scroll down to the section on Roundup)
http://landscaping.about.com/od/weedsdiseases/a/organic_yards.htm
Carol deProsse
Caroline Dieterle
