Pesticides in schools
Reduce your family's exposure

Reduce Health Risks With IPM…and Still Eliminate Pests

Pesticides are not the only way to fight pests. Poison may be one tool, but it’s a tool that we should use much less often, for our sakes and the sake of our children. One of the biggest movements away from inordinate use of pesticides is integrated pest management (IPM).

IPM does not necessarily eliminate pesticide use, but it provides a much heavier emphasis on a “holistic” approach to pest management that includes nontoxic measures and less-toxic measures to eliminate pests or deter them from settling down in a given area.

These measures may include making structural changes that reduce pests’ access through food, water and other entry points; choosing plants that are less likely to encourage insects to proliferate; or finding natural biological means of repelling pests.

Because IPM emphasizes elimination of the underlying reasons for pest problems, it is more effective than the conventional method, which relies only on spraying pesticides to kill pests once they’ve already arrived.

IPM may even be the most cost-effective way to manage pests over the long run. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “…preliminary indications from IPM programs in school systems suggest that long-term costs of IPM may be less than a conventional pest control program.”

An IPM program usually requires an initial economic investment, but over the long term it yields significant savings by eliminating or reducing ongoing chemical purchases. It also produces invaluable benefits that are harder to measure economically, such as protecting students’ and staff members’ health, reducing health-related problems, and possibly lowering student absenteeism.

While IPM won’t ensure that your local schools eliminate pesticide use, it can go a long way toward improving kids’ health. Encourage your local schools and the district as a whole to adopt IPM policies if they have not already done so, and make use of IPM principles in your own home as well. (You can visit the home safety section of our site to learn more about IPM in the home, by clicking here.)

Various states have adopted IPM and pesticide management policies for schools, though they vary widely from place to place as to the extent of protections and limitations. To find out what, if any, school pesticide legislation your state has on the books, click here to view a report online from the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides’ “Beyond Pesticides” Web site, or visit their site at www.beyondpesticides.org/main.html.

In addition, below are three Web sites that can help you (and your school district too) learn about IPM in schools:

EPA’s school IPM site

Click here or visit www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/ on your own later

Safer Pest Control Project site

Click here or visit http://www.spcpweb.org/

University of Florida’s School IPM site

(from the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)

Click here or visit http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/

You should also learn about the various types of pesticides your schools use and what risks they may pose to your children. A list of some of the more common pesticides used in schools is provided below. Note that Diazinon and Dursban, both of which are on the list, are currently in the process of a phase-out mandated by the EPA. Despite this, though, they are still available for non-agricultural uses until 2004 from some manufacturers, distributors and stores. So, some schools may still have access to, and may be using, those two dangerous chemical products.

Pesticides Commonly Used in Schools