Pesticide Exposure at Schools

* Re “Parents Call for Ban on Pesticide Use Near Schools,” Nov. 10.

It would be wonderful to be able to say that the pesticide exposure at the Mound Elementary School in Ventura was an exception, but such is not the case.

The rule in Ventura County is, if the school is near agricultural fields, your children and the school staff are at heavy risk of being subjected to poisons by the farms that border them. Students at Rio Mesa High School, for instance, have headaches, nausea and dizziness often. One parent has stated that she can’t count how many times she has been called to pick up her daughter with headaches and stomachaches.

All are classic pesticide exposure symptoms.

Our children are being poisoned. The politicians--school boards, school administrations, county supervisors and state legislators--are aware of the situation but are mainly turning a blind eye to the problem and, in some cases, even covering up.

Except for the Ventura Unified School District, there is not even a least toxic integrated pest management program in place to help protect our children from pesticides while on school campus. The Ventura school system and the parents of the Mound students are to be commended for taking action as they have and working together to help solve the problem.

We must stop exposing our children to pesticides. Ventura County Supervisors, I call on you to set up a 1.5-mile poison free zone around each of our schools in Ventura County.

DOUG HUBBARD

Safe Air For Everyone

Oxnard

*

* On Nov. 8, a drifting cloud of Lorsban pesticide sickened several people at a local elementary school. How unfortunate that it takes an incident like this to get public attention to this issue of poison use in agriculture.

Every day, pesticides, herbicides and large doses of chemical fertilizers are applied to local food crops, nursery stock, floral products, golf courses, roadsides and medians, runoff ditches, urban yards, sidewalks and on and on. How many small, unnoticed doses of pesticide do those kids get annually? How many times have we all been exposed?

It is accepted that many of these substances contribute to cancer, infertility, respiratory and other health problems, yet we continue to use them. They wind up in our air, food, lakes, streams, oceans and soils. If one product is eventually proven too dangerous and removed from the arsenal of our war with our ecosystem, another is soon released.

I find it reprehensible that some people suggest that schools should be located farther from the places that use these substances instead of insisting that these substances not be used near schools or other populated areas.

It is my hope that one day our government will mandate that all agriculture must use only all-natural products. Until then it is up to those who care to support organic farmers. It is more expensive to produce food and other products by natural methods due primarily to increased labor, but our insistence upon paying a few cents less at the register is creating a hidden and ugly deficit elsewhere.

Insist that your city, county, state and recreational facilities stop using these biocides.

ZACK GRIFFIN

Ventura