Bob Dold, Pesticides and Your School Children. Having an Exterminator for a Congressman Means Parents' Environmental Concerns Will Not Be Represented

Yesterday, we took a look at Bob Dold campaign contributor, PestPac and it's work against the School Environment Protection Act (H.R. 4159). We also pointed out that PestPac assures its own contributors that they work to elect members of congress who support "a pro-pest management position". The easy corollary is that Bob Dold suports PestPac's and NMPA's work against SEPA.

So, is there a real problem with pesticides in the schools requiring SEPA? Yes, according to Marc Lame, an entomologist and professor in Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs talking to Science Daily. In the 2007 interview, Lame said:

Over 80 percent of schools in America are applying pesticides on a regular basis, whether they have a pest problem or not ... This is tragic not only because of the well-documented link between pesticides and health problems in children, such as asthma and neurological disorders, but also because pesticides generally do not work in a preventive manner in the school environment. Applying pesticides does not prevent pests from coming in, so using them when pests are not present does nothing other than expose children and staff to toxic chemicals.

The CDC agrees that children may be particularly sensitive to pesticide toxicity because their organ systems have not reached full maturity. In 1998, scientists Shelia Hoar Zahm and Mary H. Ward compared several studies of pesticides and childhood cancers. They found that the role of pesticide exposure in cases of  childhood leukemia, brain cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, soft-tissue sarcoma, and Hodgkin's disease were "highly plausible". They concluded that it is "prudent to reduce or, where possible, eliminate pesticide exposure to children, given their increased vulnerability and susceptibility. In particular, efforts should be focused to reduce exposure to pesticides used in homes and gardens and on lawns and public lands, which are the major sources of pesticide exposure for most children."

Last year, researchers at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center found a higher level of common household pesticides in the urine of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Researchers from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have also found a link between childhood pesticide exposure and ADHD.

Dr. Lame concluded that it is better to remediate conditions that attract pests than to willy-nilly dump nerve poisons in schools. He found the frequent use of pesticides can result in pesticide resistant bugs. In the schools, he recommends Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM applies what we know about pests into a program that denies them access to food, water and shelter. This is done through hygine, better planned landscaping, using pest resistant varieties of plants, proper cultivation, pruning, irrigation and fertilization practices combined select, specific, low toxicity pesticides only when necessary. The CDC agrees and has put out a fact sheet on the IPM approach for reducing the use of pesticides in schools and on school grounds. IPM is one of the inspirations and bases for SEPA, rejected by NPMA and PestPac.

Parents in the IL-10 should be concerned about electing Bob Dold to represent us in Congress. He's a sure no vote on reducing pesticides in the schools because he'll come to the seat not only owing supporters at PestPac and NPMA, but with the perspective of the pest extermination industry. He's already said that he's generally against government regulation of business as part of his "jobs program". He advocates for what he Orwellian-ly calls "regulatory certainty". Which basically advocates we stick to19th century environmental practices to encourage business development. Do you want Bob Dold's trickle down jobs program and "regulatory certainty: to become your child's health problem?