LAUSD Settles on Use of Herbicide

Seeking to control a campus weed problem without using potentially harmful chemicals, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Thursday they will allow use of a low-grade herbicide while continuing to explore such alternatives as a heat wand.

Neither method appears to kill weeds at their roots, officials said, but both adhere to the district’s pest control policy adopted in March, which calls for the phasing out over the next three years of hazardous pesticides and herbicides.

The majority of the district’s 15-member pest management team--which includes administrators, teachers, parents, community members, environmental activists, health officials and scientists--voted Wednesday to allow the use of Scythe, a low-risk herbicide made from a naturally occurring fatty acid.

“This will enable us to get the weeds under control,” said Rick Henry, the district’s integrated pest management coordinator and a member of the pest management team.

Weeds have become unruly on the grounds of many of the district’s 668 schools, causing complaints from principals and parents concerned about children stumbling on grassy patches on asphalt playgrounds. Homeowners have also objected to weeds making neighborhood campuses ugly.

“I’m very gratified that the district has chosen to approve a low-risk agent like Scythe,” said Dr. Kirk Murphy, a member of the pest management team and chairman of the environmental committee for Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles. “I hope it supplants the use of high-risk agents.”

*

Next month, the team will discuss whether the district can use Roundup, a controversial herbicide which, Murphy said, some studies have linked to cancer.

Dozens of principals, teachers and coaches have said they support using Roundup. However, several members of the pesticide team expressed concern.

“I wouldn’t use it myself,” said Mitzi Shpak, a cancer researcher for USC and an environmental representative for the team. “I wouldn’t go near it at all.”

Henry, of LAUSD, said he uses Roundup at home. “I buy it and I use it home,” he said. “But I want to consider the sensitivities of other people.”

At most schools, Henry said, the district stopped spraying weeds last fall out of respect for those concerned about possible health risks posed by Roundup and other herbicides.

Although the policy’s goal is to “strive to ultimately eliminate the use of all chemical controls,” district officials and pesticide team members acknowledged that might be difficult to accomplish in three years. They said the priority is to use preventive measures for controlling pests and weeds as wells as finding the least toxic chemicals and other alternatives.

“The policy’s goal is rooted in a commitment to providing a high standard of protection to people and kids at Los Angeles Unified,” said Christina Graves, an environmental representative with the district’s team and a community organizer for Pesticide Watch Education Fund, a statewide nonprofit group. “The district is working hard to make that happen.”

One weed-killing method the district began testing earlier this month is the heat wand, a round tube attached to a propane tank. The wand wilts weeds with heat.

Although officials are still experimenting with different types of weeds, they said the wand has been effective at killing the leafy part of the weed, but not its roots.