Pesticides in schools
Overview and health risks

Is Your Child Going to School on a Toxic Campus?

There is no doubt whatsoever that cockroaches, flies, termites, mice, rats and other pests post health risks and property damage risks to school structures. In the interest of maintaining a healthy and well-functioning school, such threats must be dealt with.

But schools tend to use a single major kind tool for this mission: Pesticides.

Pesticides are poison. Not only to pests, but also to your children. For that matter, they can pose health risks for teachers and staff at schools. But children are the biggest concern, because their developing bodies are less able to tolerate high pesticide exposures. Also, pesticides are often used in areas of the school where exposure risks are heightened. For example, pesticides used in the cafeteria could end up on the food your kids eat. Pesticides on the floor of a gymnasium could end up on hands and ultimately in the body via the mouth, the eyes or some other entry point. And outdoors, use of pesticide on the grass and plants in and around schools can unnecessarily expose kids to toxins.

Generation Green understands that sometimes, pesticides may be necessary. But at the same time, too much exposure to them can cause serious, unintended side effects. For example: 

• Epidemiological studies indicate an association between exposure to pesticides and cancer in children

• Most major classes of pesticides adversely affect the nervous system of animals, impairing mental and motor development

• Adult exposure to pesticides, particularly in agricultural areas, has been associated with certain cancers and birth defects in their children

• Exposure to pesticides may compromise the immune system of infants and children and increase their risk of infection and disease

Government regulations are not adequate to protect the public, particularly children, from the harmful effects of pesticide exposure. In 1993 the National Academy of Sciences issued a report documenting that children are uniquely vulnerable to pesticides. And in 1999, the U.S. General Accounting Office revealed that between 1993 and 1996, there were 2,300 pesticide poisonings in schools. Those are just direct poisonings, and that number still doesn’t account for the cases went unreported. If there are that many overt poisonings, how many more children are exposed day-by-day to elevated pesticide levels that won’t poison them outright, but will undermine their health over the long run?

We as parents and concerned citizens can also do our part by insisting that schools use integrated pest management (IPM) practices that will help us reduce our reliance on pesticides. Use the links at left to learn more about pesticide protection measures, ways you can help make change, and information about IPM.