Parents Seeking Halt to Pesticide Use at Schools

A contingent of Sherman Oaks Elementary School parents has mounted a campaign to halt the use of pesticides at Los Angeles campuses after a recent incident in which they say students were accidentally sprayed by a school gardener.

The parents contend several children had to walk through a toxic mist as they arrived for classes on March 30 and happened upon the gardener spraying for weeds.

Since the incident, the parents gathered 150 signatures on a school petition calling for the Los Angeles Unified School District to stop using pesticides believed to contribute to cancer and other illnesses.

More than 30 pesticides are approved for use as needed throughout the district, which has more than 660 campuses.

On Friday, some of the parents met with district officials, asking that L.A. Unified’s pest-control program be scrapped in favor of a far more stringent policy mirroring one enacted earlier this year by the San Francisco school district. Officials agreed only to further discussions.

“I’d rather see weeds than ill children,” said parent Robina Suwol, who recalled rushing her 6-year-old son, Nicholas, to the doctor for an asthma attack a few days after the March 30 encounter. “I just think there are safer methods.”

The head of the district’s pest-control program disputed the parents’ account of the incident, insisting the gardener stopped spraying when he saw students beginning to arrive.

“This was an unfortunate mishap at Sherman Oaks . . . but nobody got sprayed,” said Bill Hicks, the district’s pest management specialist. “I’m confident that’s the case.”

Hicks said the gardener was reprimanded for failing to notify the school that he would be spraying and for doing the work too close to school hours.

But Hicks also defended the district’s pest-control efforts, saying chemicals are employed as a last resort to rid campuses of roaches, ants, mice and other pests. Before pesticides are introduced, workers set traps and fill cracks with caulk, among other alternatives, he said.

Gauging the health effects of pesticides on students remains a matter of considerable debate.

The Sherman Oaks parents could not cite any other recent cases in which pesticides had made students sick. Hicks and other LAUSD officials maintain the pesticides used on campuses are deployed safely by trained personnel--adding that they had not received any complaints beyond those of the Sherman Oaks parents.

Still, experts argue long-term exposure to chemicals can prove harmful, disrupting physical and mental development, affecting the nervous system and contributing to a host of diseases, including leukemia.

One expert criticized L.A. Unified for its choice of pesticides.

One of the pesticides, Dursban, has Chlorpyrifos, an active ingredient that has been associated with disorientation, muscle twitching and other health disorders, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The district demonstrates an ignorance of the latest findings on the adverse effects, particularly to children, of pesticides,” said Christina Graves, a community organizer with Pesticide Watch, one of two nonprofit groups helping the Sherman Oaks parents organize their campaign. “Given the toxicity of these chemicals, schools are the last place they should be used.”

Hicks said all but two of more than 30 pesticides used by the district are available to the public without restrictions. The chemical used on March 30--Dry-Pak Round-Up--is among those available for general use, he said.

Still, the parents remain wary.

“I’m just stupefied why they think this is a good program,” said Wendy Cohen, whose daughter attends kindergarten at Sherman Oaks. “They are way out of control. I just don’t want to take a chance and have some fellow come in there and spray again.”

The parents have a powerful ally in board of education President Julie Korenstein, with whom they are scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss their concerns.

Korenstein said she believes a pest-control policy modeled after the San Francisco Unified program might make sense in Los Angeles.

In February, the San Francisco school district banned any pesticides deemed to be known or probable carcinogens--including some still used by the Los Angeles district.

“If they have an effective plan, I would have no problem advising that we do that,” Korenstein said.

Hicks, the pest-control specialist, said limiting the numbers of available pesticides would curtail the school district’s ability to control insects and other pests that can easily develop a resistance to chemicals.

He argued for staying with the district’s current plan.

“Nobody is going to tell you that pesticides are safe,” he said. “But they can be applied safely.”