Nurses to Monitor Schoolchildren After Medfly Sprayings

School nurses in the Los Angeles Unified School District will be asked beginning Friday to be on the lookout for student health problems that could be linked to malathion sprayings that are continuing over a broad swath of the city in an effort to kill the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Dr. Helen Hale, the school system’s director of student medical services, said the health monitoring program will be announced at Friday morning’s monthly meeting of the 10-member group of physicians and nursing coordinators for the district.

“We are going to ask that nurses in the area of the spraying be alert to whether there is an increase in certain symptoms,” she said. Mild exposure to malathion can produce headaches, as well as eye and skin irritation, Hale said. More severe exposure can result in blurred vision and a tightness in the chest area.

State and local officials who are conducting the eradication effort against the Medfly contend that the amount of pesticide being sprayed is so small that it could not cause health problems, except among extremely sensitive people.

But community and environmental groups that are organizing to oppose aerial spraying from helicopters say they are receiving calls from increasing numbers of people complaining of flu-like symptoms immediately after the spraying. Some residents who live in spray areas have started leaving their homes each time the helicopters take flight.

About 300 square miles of the Los Angeles metropolitan area are being sprayed every three weeks with malathion as the state continues to battle Southern California’s worst-ever Medfly infestation. In testimony to a legislative committee in December, Dr. James Stratton of the state Department of Health Services said malathion “is one of the least toxic pesticides we could use. It has been extensively studied.”

But Hale said that because there is some concern about possible harmful effects of the spraying, it is appropriate to watch for symptoms of illness among students, especially the day after an application of malathion.

“Where there is a great deal of concern,” she said, “it makes sense to be doing what we can” to monitor for potential health problems brought on by the pesticide.

David Bunn, a spokesman for the opposition group Pesticide Watch, applauded the decision to monitor schoolchildren. “It’s just taking the minimum precautions to reduce exposure,” he said.

He said some parents have also complained that their children are exposed to traces of sticky malathion on playgrounds the day after spraying. Hale said that school custodians have been told to wash off not only the playground and play equipment, but outdoor lunch tables and drinking fountains.

Hale said that a similar health monitoring program was conducted during one other Medfly infestation, but no evidence of pesticide-related illness was found. This infestation is different, however, because more frequent sprayings are covering a wider area.

* BURBANK AIRPORT TARGETED

Most fruit carried by passengeres at Burbank Airport is being seized in Medflly battle. City is in spray area. B4